Why do price guides, redbook, greysheet, COINage magazine skip grades MS61 & 62 for pricing? Is there a way to figure pricing from grade MS60 to MS63? Sometimes the difference is $10 - $20 other times it's hundreds, depending on the coin.
I still trying to figure out myself the difference between a 61 and a 62...and don't tell me it's ONE! I know that...but seriously, the difference between "slight" and "light" blemishes along with an extra contact mark or two is probably the answer. I guess the price guides have only so many columns and they use the popular grades like: 8, 12, 20, 40, 50, 60, 63, 64, and 65.
well, I think the answer would be in the form of this question: why stop there? Why not list 1-70 completely? I think the price guide list only the number that applies to a specific grade, in terms of VF, XF, MS, etc.
I can understand why they don't put all the lower grades, but MS 60 - MS70 should be listed. If people are getting coins graded to "authenticate" them and define value, why not list them? I have an 1890 O Morgan graded MS62 by NGC, what is the current "book" value? I suppose I could use the PCGS coin price list of $65, and call it a day.
I did notice that the Red Book added some MS grades to this year's edition, but not many. On some coins, they dropped some of the lower grades. As silly as this sounds, it may have to do with the way the book is formatted. To include all of those columns would change the layout of the entire book. Perhaps they don't want to make that kind of a huge change.
Very good question indeed...and on the Lincoln cents, in Coin Prices magazine, it shows all grades from 1909 to 1943 then starting at 1944 the grading starts at XF. Why are the lower grades skipped? David
Well that is what you get for using less than desirable pricing guides. For the small BU grades such as 61 and 62, look to the BlueSheet.
Since 1944, coin values for pennies with the exception of double dies (i.e., 1955 and 1972) and other varieties for coins less than MS condition are really worth nothing more than face value. Of course, if a collector has an open slot, he may pay up to 25 cents to "fill in the hole", but due to the vast quanity of pennies minted and their availabilty, only MS65+Red Lincolns are worth more than a couple of dollars. It's not only pennies, but you see the same with all current coins being minted. For instance, dimes after 1965 usually start their grades at MS65 and nothing lower, because a dime less than MS65 condition is worth...a dime!
