Only in recent years have I seen more and more dealers selling coins with split grades, ie, g/vg...fine/very fine, etc. And it shows in their asking prices compared to solid grades. Come time to sell to a dealer, these coins are almost always if not exclusively given the lower of the two grades when making an offer to buy. I never buy these coins knowing this. But do you? And what are your thoughts on this practice. Thanks and hope you are all having a great weekend.
I don't like the split grading. To sell, they will say the whole coin is the higher of the two grades, to buy as you said the lower of the two. Talk about double mindedness! Just another scam in my opinion. I stay away.
To me a "F/VF" grade equates to an F15, and "VF/XF" would be VF30 or 35. I would never pay much more than the price of the lesser grade, as it appears that auction records for certified coins bear this out. Maybe there are coins with a big spread from 12 to 15 or 20 to 30 but I'm not sure I've seen any, perhaps someone could chime in?
Even though there are dealers who can properly grade, I ignore all dealer grades and grade the coin myself.
While I don't think it's right for dealers to buy at the lower grade and sell at the higher grade, I do like that split grades help to paint a slightly better picture of a coin if you don't have it in hand. That said, I'd prefer G+ to G/VG for describing a coin with a G obverse and VG reverse.
I don't often care how the seller grades it, I make my own determination of grade and value it based on that. I also take into consideration any problems, whether raw or certified, and examine coins under magnification. Of course, it all depends how serious the purchase is. If it's a $5 purchase for something that catches my eye, I don't give a dang. If it's $5000, I'll spend months analyzing the market and known comps - to a fault before arriving on my own clarified ideas. No matter what, If we're too far apart on price, I respectfully say it's not for me; if we're not that far apart, I make what I feel to be a fair offer and if they say no, I say thank you. (Sometimes if we're far apart, I make an offer anyway, as politely and humbly as I can.) Whatever their grading policy is, it doesn't bother me. Though like you, I take note of that and it may influence how trustworthy I believe them to be and it might make me more skeptical when analyzing the coin. (For instance, if they offer something polished as BU or counterfeits as genuine, I know to recommend others avoid their place at all cost.) If they list something as F/VF and I know it's G, I look at the price. Sometimes they have a G price. If they list it XF but it's XF details, I know to go carefully, but if it's AU or MS details and they list it XF, I know we may be in with a shot -again depending on their price. Sometimes they genuinely miss problems - they're only human and they're processing thousands of coins. So the short answer to your question which I have dragged out carefully is, I don't care what they think, I make my own judgment. : )
Good answer. I think that when the dealers use this type of split grade it makes for a good time to buy the coin at the lower grade or at the very least somewhere in between the price their asking. In my experience they're are many coins that fit this this type of grading/pricing and are open for discussion on what the coin solely/actually is on it's merits/details. Key dates come to mind. Many coins fit this area of the market and I see it as nothing more than the dealer trying to make a buck hoping to dupe the buyer into thinking the coin is better than it actually is or actually a borderline coin somewhere in between the grade assigned. But dealers using this type of grading open themselves to fact they may have over paid for the coin that they are trying to sell.
Split grading coins is an old practice, one that was done away with nearly 30 years ago. So if some are coming back it to now the only reason I can think of for doing so would be to justify higher asking prices. Coins having uneven wear is extremely common, and in many cases it is even the norm rather than the exception. Some cases can even be 2 or 3 grades apart. And that is why split grading was done away with and grading coins according to the worst side was adopted.
I think a coin that is fine 15 on the reverse and Vg10 on the obverse is simply a nice for grade VG10. split grades were common on the early ANACS.
The way I deal with this is to first ask myself: would I want to own this coin years from now? If yes, I grade the coin myself (even if it's in TPG plastic), and see if, based on the coin's grade and overall look, I want to pay the price being asked. If so, I buy the coin. If not, and we're not too far off, I'll make an offer. I don't care if the dealer would only buy the coin back at the lower grade in this case, because I don't really intend to sell it. If I were a dealer, my only question would be "can I make money on this"? By which, I mean, if I had the coin in my inventory, accurately described, and graded, could I move it for a profit, preferably to someone who will want to own the coin years from now?
If a majority of people who use spit grading, all agree or buy or sell according to the lower grade, then why not mark it as that? Useless system in my opinion. If the higher grade doesn't matter then why use f/vf? If most agree a coin is of the lower grade, just call it that. Talk about splitting hairs. Just a scam to me IMHO
