Am I the only one that thinks most of the standard grading scale is euphemistic? I propose the following "truth in adversing" revision of the scale descriptions. Old term--------------New term ----------------------------------- About Good------------Scrap metal Good------------------Crap Very Good-------------Slightly crappy Fine------------------Recognizable as a coin Very fine-------------Very worn Extra fine------------Moderately worn About uncirculated----Circulated Mint State 60---------Uncirculated but beat up Attached is a scan of a coin graded as Good and for comparison, the same coin in Proof. Would anyone show the "good" coin to someone and say "Hey, look at how GOOD the condition of this coin is??
Another one for me is BU and it's brothers GEM BU and CHOICE BU. What the Hey? I've just started to "buy" lower priced coins and I'm discovering that BU means "Oh yeah, all those marks on it came from the bag as it was being hauled from the mint....."
funny, but no. I like more sophmoric terms AG blech G eh vg soso F well now VF hmmmm xf oooooh au aaaaah ms-60 hmph, scratchy ms-64 q.dave's approval ms-70 bull!@#%, doesn't exist
grading get what you like. that's it. my grading are: perfect uncirculated lightly used used or circulated damaged
A lovely post I must say but you forgot a few. Uncircled = Uncirculated BU = Beat Up and the one you always here from your non collecting friends is..... "I have an old silver dollar that's in RGS (Really Good Shape)" Great Post!
most of the coins i see are either BU, GEM BU, or Choice BU - no one wants to put an MS and number on a coin - that allows them some wiggle room if you really like the coin - for some Mercury dimes that wiggle room could be $40.00! -Steve
My grading is simple: 1. Scrap Metal 2. Readable Date 3. Good 4. Too expensive for me I only have coins from three of these categories.
No their not. Fifty years from not when you're sending your coins off to be holographicly computer graded by the PanAsian Cybernetic Grading Syndicate (PCGS) hoping for a MS- 3823.274A9 and that the bagmark by Liberty's nose doesn't cause a color flare in the Online Holoimage you'll think back to those good old days of 2007 when there were only 33 grades of Mint State (11 grades with low end, Lock, and high end) and just a handfull of collor and strike designations. And you will wish for those simple times of a bygone era.
i'll buy nothing less than MS 3823.274B0! the price difference of $100^73 mega bucks will be worth it. -Steve
Rational numbers aside, does anyone know how the original grading scale arrived at 70 as the highest amount? That is a very odd choice.
Sydney Sheldon came up with the scale in 1948. The numbers were arbitrary for him - he started with 1 and ended at 70 because that was how many it took to describe what he considered to be a scale from the worst to the best condition & value. Of course his scale was devised for large cents and was not applied to other coins until the 1970's.
Actually, he started with 1 as the basal state (lowest identifyable coin) to 70 perfection. The numbering was established because if the 1 was valued at $10, then the G-4 was worth $40, or a simple multiple of the original basal state value. So, under his theory, the MS-70 (although I don't think that he used MS in his identifications) was worth 70 times that of the lowest possible grade.
