No one can give you a definite answer to that question, only their opinion. I have purchased a few sovs over the years from coin dealerships in aUnc grade only to be told later on when reselling them to other dealers that they were only gEF or even lower grades. Also if a coin has excessive markings it can be graded lower than what the actual coin wear would dictate. Best advice I can give you get it slabbed by one of the Yankie grading companies and you have a chance of getting yourself a aU55 grade.
^^^ Dealers will always down grade any incoming coins... I was offered as VF+ on this one...ie. best he could do was $1000 max.. I just smirked with his offer....I did ask him to sell his ones on his offer price, on SYD Mint other years in his display unit, and of course he turned it down....
I wish I was an expert on these.... I sent in a 1870 "sure" it would be MS but it came back AU58+ And I sent in a 1903P ready to accept AU58 and it came back MS62. (Wish they had done the reverse, tbh.. ) Anyway, if it's not details then it has a very good chance to AU55 imo
You may be more of an expert than you realize @jultorsk, maybe the 1870 would have achieved your MS estimate with a different grader. It is a known fact the grading standards of these slabbing companies are all over the place and hard to define accurately, so submitting anything to them is a bit of a gamble. I know of people in the States who if not satisfied with the grade given, will resubmit the rare coin a number of times with different or even the same coin grading company till they get a numeric grade equal or as close to what they think the coin should be. So its definitely buyer beware when purchasing high grade and rare slabbed sovereigns, as what you think you are getting and what you end up with might not be the same thing.
^^^ i concur this issue with grading companies, different grader can result differently..one local dealer had to send same 4 times, from original AU58 and ended with MS60+... quite a price difference with rare coins... pleased at the end, but he said it was worth it due to the difference in pricing... but bugger for getting the coin off that slab
Agree its the dreaded AU55. If the fields weren't so bad than maybe 61 or 62. No brainer buy at $1000.
It's hard to say from a picture, the problem that surface conditions are the differences between a Ms or au coin. Details are good for a Ms coin but it appears that there is bruising on the high points. Having said that the grading companies are more forgiving on old gold due to its soft nature. No matter what, this coin would be graded if I owned it
It's definitely confined in AU grade I would grade mostly for authenticity even though strike and color look right to me. It's not impossibe it comes back 58 and you have a $2000 or $3000 coin in the current market. By the time PCGS take time jerking off it might be $5000.
Optimistic? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1860-sovereign-AU55/124679682968 your lowest cost option might be send to Drakesterling for both grading and consignment.
PCGS making liars of us all $4250 https://www.drakesterling.com/1860-sydney-mint-sovereign-pcgs-ms60-29207209