This is a good example of having to grade early branch mint cents mainly by the obverse. You can see that there is ample detail on the obverse for EF grading, which consists of having slight flattening to the cheek and jaw bone, along with a touch of wear above the ear. When you look at the reverse, however, you will notice a near complete lack of wheat hair lines and an overall lack of sharpness of the design. This is not due to wear on the coin, rather wear on the die. The low-end EF grade comes from the noticeable abrasion flaws on the obverse, some rather small carbon spots on the obverse (especially around the motto), and an overall lack of eye appeal due to the 'typical' reverse and the aforementioned flaws.
