Advice please: 1908 Indian head $5. And a funny story..

[Lindeman]

I came across this quite nice (but a bit shiny) 1908 gold $5 today in a coin / jewellery shop. I regard myself as a fairly good judge of these notoriously tricky coins ....having bought and graded a bunch, including having found some fakes after sending to NGC, but I need some opinions here. I looked at it under a loupe and its got plenty surface nicks and a bit of wear on the high points, which would suggest its a real circulated coin. The letters and rim look OK - so I am convincing myself its real.  Most of the fakes are of S mintmark or rare year /types while this is a plain common 1908 Philadelphia.  

If this were to grade MS 62 or higher it would probably be a $700+ coin. What you reckon? Is this a good buy for $500? So far my Indian Heads have graded at 55 or 58, so i am trying to upgrade my examples to 60 or higher. Is this a rarely found raw Indian head in good nick, or is it a fake, or a cleaned Genuine ? Happy to hear your thoughts  

The owner made me laugh; while seemingly knowledgeable about the coin he then declared that it was a rarely seen “E” mintmark ....pointing to the “E” in E Pluribus Unum.  I went along with the story for a while before I called him out on it!!! Dealers will try every trick. 😂

 

[CosmikDebris]

I'd love to come across one of these in a jewellers! Nobody wants to part with them. As for grade, this might help?

https://www.pcgs.com/photograde/#/5Ind/Grades