1903 S USA Philippine Peso surprise.

Almost 40 years ago an old man gave me a 1903 S Philippine Peso.  I decided to send it in to NGC for their conservation program just in case the tarnish was being caused by something corrosive.  They concluded that it had mad contact with PVC and qualified for the program.  I was expecting a grade of AU 58. It came back as a MS 61. Not bad for a gift.  I have attached pictures of before it was sent in and after they got done.
Before

After

Nice 👍 I only have shipwreck versions of this coin (later smaller version), but also had a nice surprise when I bought my second one because the first one I had, I had put down as a fake (due to being underweight and being pitted in the fields), it wasn’t until I received the second one (many years later I might add) that I saw all the information on the Numista page and realised my first one was genuine. Fascinating story from WWII.

N#4634

Funny thing is the Dealer that submitted it to NGC said it would probably come back as a MS60 or MS61. He said I was unusual because I consistently undergrade when most of his customers overgrade.

Well 2 or 3 points on the Sheldon Scale isn’t that bad for a grading estimate, all coins are different depending on various factors when being minted. The more you see of one coin, the more you can grade it more accurately, and NGC / PCGS and the like get to see lots of coins, so they know from the highest grade down which details wear away first and so on, some times areas don’t have details and people wrongly assume they are gone from wear so grade lower.

It is better to grade lower, because you then get a nice surprise when sending them to be graded, I would say you grade was pretty good, backed up by a better grade from a grading company 👍 kudos