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I have often been a strong believer that marks in that marks in the prime focal area of a coin are essentially grade limiting marks. After all, how many times have we seen a gem coin with one distraction that prevents the coin from achieving gem status. Here is a good example of what I am talking about. This 1880-S Morgan Dollar was graded MS64* by NGC because of the significant mark found on lady Liberty's cheek.



If we remove this mark from the coin, the effect is pronounced and there is very little doubt that the coin is an MS65.



Even PCGS supports this grading practice as evidenced by this quote from THE PCGS OFFICIAL GUIDE TO GRADING AND COUNTERFEIT DETECTION (pg 5).

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Peace Dollars are often found weakly struck. It is not uncommon to find uncirculated Peace Dollars with incomplete reverse lettering and mushiness on the obverse. The TPG's claim that strike is an important factor in determining the grade of a coin. Yet they seem to contradict themselves when grading coins from a series that were often weakly struck. Take a look at the photos below. Shown are five gem state Peace Dollars ranging from MS65-MS67 in grade. I have organized them by strike. The top coin is the most weakly struck Peace Dollar I have ever encountered. The second coin is just a little bit better struck. The third coin has an average strike and the last two are fully struck.

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In another recent thread I made the comment that I didn't think that somebody understood what market grading is, perhaps what it means would be a better way to express it.

To start it off I will point out some basic things that a lot of people don't seen to understand. All TPGs use market grading. And - the ANA Grading Standards are based on market grading and have been since 1987.

So, let's hear it, let's hear what your definitions of market grading are. Define it, explain all the aspects of it and list what the criteria are for market grading. ...

I just heard a story about a new type of scam going around the Internet and can easily imagine someone trying this on CoinTalk. The scam involves getting the buyer to send money for the purchase to an "escrow" account, only the escrow company is a fake one, and from what I've heard they've been able to take people for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There are legitimate escrow services that facilitate online purchases. I personally have used Escrow.com on a number of occasions. Yes, the fees are somewhat higher than you'd expect with Paypal, or wiring the money directly, but if you're dealing with a large dollar amount and someone you don't know, then a legitimate escrow service can be a life saver. An unknown escrow service should be a huge ...

I posted this information on a few other forums previously, quite a while ago. I have made a few updates/edits very recently and hope it will be of some help to at least a few people here. If you have any questions and/or would like to discuss any of this, please don't hesitate to say so......

PART 1

Disclaimer :

I have no doubt that much or all of this has been discussed previously and in some cases, in greater detail and in a more interesting fashion. But, I have received a lot of questions about pointers for examining and grading coins, so I'll try to address them in this format.

These are merely my opinions and they may differ from those of others.

I was originally planning ...

The ANA’s World’s Fair of Money is probably the largest (at least in size) show each year, and one I greatly anticipate since it means I get to buy some amazing coins to buy for both inventory and my personal collection, I usually sell quite a bit of inventory, I get to visit a new and interesting city and experience their culture and local food, and I get to see/meet some amazing coin people. As a result this report is going to be quite photo packed so I will post it in segments.

Sunday – I had a nice direct flight from LAX to Philly, so my sweet hubby dropped me off at the airport early Sunday morning. After I checked my bag, I headed through security, but as often is the case, they wanted to do extra screening on my carry-on ...