1877 IHC Upgrade. You Vs. PCGS

I just received the coin today, and have been examining it closely in hand under a 25 loupe. I honestly don't know why this coin is not graded XF. I just spent a good 30 minutes comparing this coin to certified VF35s on heritage, and this one is stronger than virtually every one, both obverse and reverse detail. Looking at the XF40s on Heritage, it was comparable to most of them, and even stronger than a lot of them. I think this coin is either usually weakly struck(so TPGs take that into account), or it is just notoriously overgraded. This could just be an example of a very strongly struck coin, which is why they attributed any weakness in detail to wear as opposed to strike. I truly believe this is an XF coin...and am tempted to crack it out(not now, but maybe someday). I am SUPER pleased with it though.

I suppose I'm too late to really submit my grade, but I would have had it at VF-35. I looked at it and thought that it was basically an XF, but a few specific areas stopped it, so I went with VF-35. I don't really think the strike weakness, more so on the reverse, had much to do with it. What struck me is that LIBERTY and the rails are actually not really on par with XF-40. You do have some decent wear on 'B' and 'E', and your bottom rial is a bit crummy. There are also two hits around 6 o-clock. Nothing to warrant a details grade obviously, but slightly offensive for a potential XF grade. The ribbon is also not entirely defined from the surrounding hair. The diamond detail can be weak, but no coins were struck without that separation to some degree. It wouldn't be an uproar to see this coin with an XF-40 grade, but if so, I think it would have been a weak XF.

too much wear on the feathers and too many small nicks to make EF40. I believe it could get a CAC beanie at the current VF35, if you are into that thing.

Fantastic key date!!
Nice eye appeal!
VF/EF

I will take the next to last one.