Can someone help explain the scores to me. Mainly the negative points received. You get a negative for not having a designation on a merc, frank, or Jeff. Thus I'm assuming cause they want the full band, full bell, and full step destignation to mark a superior coin? Then on the copper coins they give a negative for having a designation, bn I understand for browning but why rd, isn't that supposed to be mint or can you find an older copper without a designation and this truely mint thus not needing designation? I'm just trying to figure out why some things get denoted or premoted while others don't.
From what I've seen and read people have been trying to figure the whys and wherefores of the registry systems since the day they were created ! Don't know that anybody ever did.
Lol! It sure seems that way. I could care less about the score, my pockets will never be deep enough to compete with the big boys. Besides, enjoyment is more important. I was just curious.
PCGS supports the idea that series with strike designations (FH, FBL, FB, etc...); those with surface designations (DCAM, CAM); and those with color designations (RD, RB, BN) can be valued at least in part by the presence of absence of the designation. Therefore, as a baseline they look for the "best" designation (DCAM or RD, etc...) and penalize coins that fail to achieve the designation. It's simply part of the rules they put in place to rank coins and sets. Nothing more.
That would make perfect since if they didn't deduct for a RD. that's what throws me off lol. They give added points for full band, full step which does make since. But why deduct for rd?
Without knowing what set you are writing about, I would assume you are reading something backwards to believe they deduct for RD.
I fiddled around with the "what if" feature at the PCGS registry, trying to figure out some sort of algorithm but I eventually decided that it had nothing to do with real numismatics.