Obviously the best way to learn how to grade is handle and examine hundreds of coins, ask for assistance from veterans and sometimes by trial and error. I have done this but know I still have a long way to go and there probably be issues that I will never be fully familiar with; such as, some foreign coins and some tokens and medals. But besides buying numerous books, another technique I use is to safe pictures from the internet. Good large pictures, then I save them into their respective folders for my “Grading set”. I have folders for each denomination and pictures from the lowest grade to the highest I can find. Some issues are harder to find then others but they are out there. Heritage Auctions is a good place to get high res photos of coins. I also save pictures of problem coins, though I will advise that it is better to study the original coins and learn them first. On that note, I was once told that the secret service have people that study our currency religiously, the purpose being the ability to spot a fake almost instantly due to having such an intimate knowledge of the original. There are exceptions to every rule but I think overall this is a good policy for coin and currency collectors as well. Another thing I do that has made my life a lot easier, especially selling on Ebay is saving your pictures with a proper label. For instance I label my pictures as such: 1878 7TF Reverse of 1879 PCGS MS62 Obverse 1855 Arrows Half Dime NGC AU53 Obverse And of course for the reverse I just change the last word to “Reverse”. If I have multiple of the same coin in the same grade then I assign a number to it and label it on the 2x2 or use the last 3 digits of the certification number: 1909 VDB Lincoln NGC MS 64RD 046 Obverse 1909 VDB Lincoln NGC MS 64RD 049 Obverse 1909 VDB Lincoln NGC MS 64RD 149 Obverse For currency I like to add the Friedberg number at the beginning of the title: Fr. 2011-C $10 1950A FRN Misalignment Error PMG 64EPQ Obverse Fr. 2023-L $10 1977 FRN Fold Over Error PMG 63EPQ Obverse The system will work for anything and can be re arranged to your needs or likes but it helps to actually have a system. This can be time consuming but is well worth the effort in the long wrong. Thanks, Joseph
I love this idea. Would take a little time, but if you're serious about learning a series, saved high res pics of various grades lined up in a folder is brilliant. Great tip.
