A grading question...

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by Evorlor, Jun 29, 2010.

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  1. mark_h

    mark_h Somewhere over the rainbow

    I would not worry about it - I don't and I am sure I have been way way off before - trust me. It is all about the learning. Really tough with pictures, but I think it really helps.
     
    mark_h, Jun 29, 2010
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  3. Evorlor

    Evorlor Member

    Speaking of which, I have pretty bad vision. What is a loupe that I can use to make it the easiest to grade coins and search for things such as S over D? The one I have is a 5x loupe and it is just horrible. It actually makes it more difficult.

    Or perhaps I should search the threads. I'm sure this has been discussed.
     
    Evorlor, Jun 29, 2010
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  4. mark_h

    mark_h Somewhere over the rainbow

    Yep - I have a 10x and a 16x. BUT for the really hard stuff I have a digital blue scope attached to my pc that I use. Not sure if that scope works with vista or 2007 yet. I would not use a 16x on things like large cents, but it is nice for seeing D/S type things on buff's or cents. Just my opinion.
     
    mark_h, Jun 29, 2010
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  5. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Yeah it's spot on - sometimes.

    And it does absolutely nothing to tell you how to distinguish why the coin they used got the grade it got. What do I mean by that ? Well consider - not coins graded MS65 are equal. So they used 1 coin to show you what an MS65 looks like.

    But what about another coin that has more luster than the 1 pictured but more contact marks as well. Is it still MS65 ?

    What about one that has less luster and fewer contact marks - is it MS65 ?

    Those are just 2 examples and there are many more. And this is the problem with photo grade guides. And while they have a certain usefullness, they can no means be used as a grading guide for that reason.

    You need written descriptions to learn how to grade coins. Pictures can be used to show examples, but a picture is only good for that one particular coin. Now if you used a 100 pictures for one particular grade - then that would be a good start. But even is still only a start.
     
    GDJMSP, Jun 29, 2010
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  6. mblackwolf

    mblackwolf Junior Member

    i am learning to grade too and i agree with gdjmsp the photograde can be misleading but still helpful at times. I know on the PCGS website they have a listing of their standards and a small discription of each grade. I have been using that until i can get some of the grading books.
     
    mblackwolf, Jun 29, 2010
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  7. tmoneyeagles

    tmoneyeagles Indian Buffalo Gatherer

    I do agree with you Doug, which is why on my Morgan thread I didn't just say "Here is a picture of a Morgan in MS65", instead I showed the picture and gave descriptions, which is what Photograde is lacking.

    I think Photograde is a quick reference tool, for when you might not have time to read a description and want to know if the grade is right, just a quick glance and you can really have a somewhat confident answer of yes or no. Of course, I'd rather have a 100% confident answer rather than a somewhat which is why I like to use many different reference tools for grading, not just Photograde.
     
    tmoneyeagles, Jun 29, 2010
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