I recently bought a few silver coins off of ebay in a lot. I bought them because I got them for around melt, and because one of them was a Franklin proof, and one was a Kennedy Silver Proof, neither of which I have so I thought I'd get them. When I received them, I noticed that the Franklin proof, a 1956 type 2, was in amazing condition. Now I'm wondering about what grade it would be in. I'll get a picture up later, but for now, I'm just wondering how one would grade them. I thought I saw somewhere that the actual strike is taken into account, is that correct? I thought for business strike coins, its just number of marks, which as far as I can tell this one has little to none. How are proof coins graded from PR 64 and up?
Well I'm still fine-tuning my macro photo setup, but here is what I have so far. What I see now is a small mark under the bell on the right side above the "do" in dollar, maybe a hairline scratch above the bell under the "of", a small mark on his cheek, and a small nick on his hair by his neck. What do you guys see? What grade would you say this coin is?
Proof coins can certainly be graded lower than PF-64. (By the way, PR stands for Poor, not Proof.) A Proof coin with lots of marks (but not circulated) could grade as low as PF-60. Grades for Proof coins cover the same range as Business Strikes. Proof coins that have been circulated (aka Impaired Proofs) can be graded as low as PF-1 (comparable to Poor-1) and as high as PF-58 (comparable to AU-58).
PCGS uses PR for Proof, that's what I was going by. I know they can be graded lower, but I was more concerned with the difference in the higher grades.
I would suggest you get yourself a copy of the ANA grading book. It does a far better job of explaining the answers to what you are asking than I can do here but I'll try and point a few things. First of all it's extremely difficult to judge any coin based on pictures because you never know what the pic is showing you and what it is not showing you. But it is doubly difficult, some say impossible, to judge Proofs from pictures. That's because you simply can't see the things you need to see in pictures. For instance, many times hairlines can't be seen at all without magnification and then by turning the coin just so in the light. And you have to look, to think, about Proofs differently than you do about business strikes. Proofs will seldom have the contact marks found on business strikes because they are minted one at a time and handled very carefully at the mint. Even the age of the coin can come into play because of the difference in minting practices. What might be described as a small contact mark on a business strike that has little effect on its grade, the same mark can have a huge impact on the grade of a Proof. And quality of strike plays a larger part with Proofs because Proofs are always struck more than once, sometimes several times, so they are expected to have a very good strike that shows all of even the finest details. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you use all of the same criteria when grading Proofs that you use to grade business strikes, but the degree and the impact that those criteria have is multiplied when grading Proofs. Now let's talk about your coin. Your pics are a little blurry so that makes it even harder to judge the coin. For example, you should be able to read what it says on the bell, but I can't even come close to doing that. That may be because of the pics, or it may be because of the coin. If it's because of the coin then that has an impact on the grade because it would mean that the coin was not struck as well as it should have been. That could be because the pressure was off slightly or it could be because the dies were worn. But it doesn't matter what caused it, all that matters is the end result. Contact marks, I can see a few small ones, some on the rim, some on Ben's face, some in the hair. Can't really see any on the reverse. But those few marks, especially the ones on the rim and larger one in the hair would limit the grade to no higher than 65. Hairlines, can't really see any but then I wouldn't expect to be able to see any in pics. That does not mean they are not there, nor does it mean they are. We just don't know. The fields on Proofs are again more important than they are on business strikes. That's partially because the fields are supposed to be a mirror on a Proof (there are exceptions but they don't apply here). On your coin the fields have the mirror finish, but yet they are also covered with tiny spots, that is a severely limiting factor. Even to be a 65 the fields need to be above average, these are not. So the highest the coin could grade based on that is 64. Eye appeal, primarily because of the fields, is greatly reduced. Thus this would also limit the grade to 64. Now all of this is my opinion, but it is based on my experience with grading Proofs. It is also important to note that it is based on pictures. But honestly I doubt it would change much were I to see the coin in hand. I don't think there's any denying that the fields are spotted and that is the worst limiting factor the coin has. Because of that I could grade it no higher than 64.
I'll see if I can explain it to you. In coin grading there are two words that start with 'P' that are used to describe a coin's condition: Poor and Proof. (Yes, 'Proof' is a method of manufacture, not a grade, but when grading a Proof coin it should be described as a Proof coin.) ANA abbreviates Poor as 'PR' (PooR). Because PR was already taken they chose to abbreviate Proof as "PF' (ProoF). (Notice the 'r' has not been removed from the word 'Proof'.) I had nothing to do with the abbreviations. (ANA did not contact me when they were writing their Grading Standards.) If you disagree with the above abbreviations I would suggest that you contact the ANA. EDIT The abbreviations of some states may at first appear awkward or unusual but were necessary because the name of other states started with the same letter or letters. Examples: Maine is abbreviated ME (MainE) and Maryland is abbreviated MD (MarylanD) because Massachusetts got MA (MAssachusetts). Missouri is abbreviated MO (MissOuri) and Mississippi is abbreviated MS (MiSsissippi) because Michigan got MI (MIchigan). Montana is abbreviated MT (MonTana) because Missouri got MO (MissOuri). Alaska is abbreviated AK (AlasKa) because Alabama got AL (ALabama). Arizona is abbreviated AZ (AriZona) because Arkansas got AR (ARkansas). There may be other examples but I think those are enough to make the point that sometimes abbreviations cannot be what you may think is obvious because of circumstances.
Proof coins can grade as low as but not limited to VF20 and I know this b/c i've seen Goberchet (I know I spelled it wrong) dollar coins graded by PCGS as that.
