1850 Large Cent ,What will she grade ?

I think she is pretty, but have no idea what the grade it.

 

Hmmm, OK, you made me think. Happy ?

As usual when I look at a coin I grade it myself instead of trying to figure out what a TPG might say. And at first glance I thought I saw some very light wear on the tip of the crown and lock of hair directly below it. But that was it. And since that was it I had to look closer.

Contact mark wise the coin is remarkably clean. And what few marks the coin does have are quite small. That itself is usually an indicator that the coin is MS. So I had to look a little closer at those spots where I thought there might be very light wear. Now it is pretty common for a lot of folks, including the TPGs, to explain away light wear by saying that it is a weak strike, not wear. But areas of a weak strike can be differentiated from wear by the texture of the area in question. Areas of a weak strike will have a rough texture while areas of wear will have a smooth texture. Neither area will have luster. That is because even light wear breaks the luster, literally wears it away, and because a weakly struck area cannot have luster because the metal never reached the surface of the die to create that luster. Even so, the color of a weakly struck area will be slightly different than the color of an area with light wear. The area with wear will be slightly darker. But with this coin the areas that I initially thought might be light wear are so small that it is hard to tell what the case might be. So I had to back up and look for other clues. That's when the stars hit me in the face.

The stars on the right side of the coin are well defined, with 1 exception, while the stars on the left side are flat with no center detail. This starts with the stars right at the tip of the crown. So it stands to reason that what I thought might be light wear is instead due to a weak strike.

Now it took a whole lot longer to type all of this out than it did to see it. But if I didn't type it all out then what I am about to say would not make sense to most. So I'm going to guess that they graded the coin MS65 RB, and so do I. The luster is somewhat subdued by the toning, and the eye appeal is affected for the same reason. Otherwise I think they might have even graded it higher.

So Jason, how'd I do ?

 

Well, you know what they say about blind squirrels

 

Geoff I don't know what to tell ya. I've written out the exact same info about other coins probably a hundred times. That info will always prove valid. Problem is, the TPGs don't always get it right. You see, the TPGs will accept and grade coins with light wear as MS more often than not. They didn't use to be that way, but in today's world they sure are. They use the excuse that maybe, just maybe, that light wear could have been caused by roll friction, or flip friction, or album friction, or even bag friction. But they forget all about the fact that the light wear could also have been caused by honest to God wear from circulation or from some dealer or collector sliding the coin around on his table or counter top. But the problem with that methodology is that there is no way in the world to tell one type of wear from another, it cannot be done.

But it makes their customers a lot happier when they say - oh this light wear could have been caused by this or that so this coin is still MS. Well, I say horse puckey ! Wear is wear and I don't care how it got there, the only things that really matters is that it IS there ! And that's how the grading standards used to be, and how they should still be.

So, most of the time when I write out an explanation of how I graded a coin like that my grade is going to be lower than the grade assigned by the TPG. And when my grade is lower than the TPGs a lot of folks discount whatever I had to say and ignore it because how can I be right when the TPGs say otherwise ?

This particular coin is a good example. The reason it is a good example is because the very same info I typed out in that analysis will prove that a coin is really AU or really MS, regardless of what the TPGs say.

But folks will only believe what they want to believe. And most of the time they want to believe to believe that a coin is better than it really is. Even when it's not their coin !

But me, I believe what my eyes actually show me, not what I want to see

But if you got a coin and it want it analyzed, post some good pictures and yeah I'll do it. Just be ready to hear the honest truth, and realize it may not be what you want to hear.

 

It's a very complicated issue with many changes that occurred over many years.

NGC and PCGS make a point of there being differences in their grading standards, they always have. In fact all of the TPGs do the same thing, each one uses different grading standards than any of the others and they do it quite intentionally. It is a part of their business plan. Quite a few years ago there what just about everybody considered to be 4 top tier grading companies, NGC, PCGS, ANACS and ICG. The way they made things work was each one of the TPGs was tougher on a particular series than the others, and more lenient on a particular series than the others. The average person really wasn't aware of this, and when most were told of it they refused to believe it. Instead they would go with the fan mentality believing that their favorite company was better than the others.

Then in 2004, all of the TPGs relaxed their grading standards. Many refuse to believe this ever happened, but the evidence that it is true speaks for itself.

But then some years ago ICG and ANACS were bought by new owners and each of them greatly relaxed their grading standards in order to try and draw in more business. It didn't work. And NGC and PCGS became the only 2 top tier grading companies. But each is still tougher on one series and more lenient on other series. That is how they manage to compete with each other and yet maintain their reputations.

At the same time there are many similarities between NGC and PCGS, meaning they both do some things the same way. That is especially true of the light wear issue I discussed above. Both companies treat it the same way. And both companies treat several other things the same way, such as over-grading coins with a special pedigree, or over-grading coins of a certain rarity or high value, or over-grading coins from a certain time period. And yes, they do these things for the reason you mentioned. They have to in order to be able to compete with each other and stay in business.

So the simple answer to your question is - yes. But to just say that without knowing and being aware of all the changes that have occurred and when they occurred, well it's hard to imagine that such a thing could happen. But the primary goal of the TPGs is to make money, they are a business, nothing more. And the best way to make money is to keep your customers happy. And the best way to keep your customers happy is to give them what they want.