For certified 1916-D Mercury Dimes, the AG-3 grade covers a lot of territory, due to the demand for this Key Date. A LOT of certified examples are somewhat sketchy at best, with many old school numismatists left holding their nose, as the level of quality accepted to be slabbed in a normal holder is stretched considerably. Harshly cleaned, scratched or even damaged coins tend to be allowed, other than at CACG. The example offered here is the real deal however, with or without the “bean”. The value and commonly encountered counterfeits/altered coins encouraged certification, with over 7,100 coins certified at PCGS, NGC and CACG, plus probably over another 1,000 details, versus 278 at CAC. That is a low percentage for a Key Date, especially in the grade. Please Note: the PCGS cert verification image for this coin/cert # is crappy, if you chose to look, but it is the same coin … my images are certainly better and give you a good idea of what the coin really looks like.