This is probably a huge n00b subject (with related questions), but I must ask anyway.... I've been considering entering my collection into Numista but I have a problem: it wants to know the grade of the coins. Does everyone here get all of their coins professionally graded? I would assume that's a costly endeavor. I'm sure it's worth it if one has a rare coin worth a lot of money. But for more recent coins, do you bother? Or do most people here possess the knowledge of grading accurately themselves? Or do people here "guess" at the grade of their coins? Please enlighten me.
Collecting coins without being able to grade them yourself is rather like collecting cars with no knowledge how to drive.
Well OK then. Now I feel dumb. So where has everyone gone to learn such a thing? Local coin shops that give classes? Some kind of "adult learning" class at a community college? Etc?
Welcome Dave, and like the other Dave (super) said it is essential that you learn how to grade the coins you collect. Buy a copy of the latest ANA grading guide and you will get an idea of what your coins (US) will grade. Now these assessments might not always concur with the major grading services, but you will get an idea of what your coins will land at. Grading is subjective, and while your opinion might not be agreed upon by others, it's your opinion. That's fine. As you gain in knowledge, you might find that your grading opinions might change. There are a lot of 'guess the grade' threads on this forum..See the different opinions on the grade of the coin in question. It's how you learn.
Don't feel dumb. It is just that if you don't know the basics of grading then you really don't know what you have, and when you buy you are at someone else's mercy. I recommend a few things: Buy the book The Art and Science of Grading Coins by Jason Poe. It tells you many of the basics about the process. Go online or get app for PCGS PhotoGrade. It shows you grading for all the major US coin series in a stepwise fashion. If you can go to a coin show or shop and just look at a ton of coins. You will begin to see things that are described in the grading books. Finally, hang out here a lot, especially in the grading threads. You will begin to see the differences in the grades and some rationale for those grades.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I know I'm new to this and have much to learn. Especially something as basic (and super important) as grading. Luckily, I inherited 98% of my world coin collection from my grandfather. And the rest of my paper/coin currency collection is from every day "collecting" in the form of receiving change from purchases or asking for it from a few local bank branches. I do have a local "estate sales" place that sells coin and paper currency items "below typical e-bay prices" just to keep the inventory moving. I've looked there a few times but have never bought anything (for obvious reasons). They also have some coin collecting books that I definitely want to investigate this weekend.
Welcome to the hobby! Learning how to grade coins is a vital skill in this hobby, and the knowledge comes from experience, looking at coins, and study. Luckily, there are also some really good books available on the subject. You don't need to send all your coins in to get professionally graded - you can do it yourself!
First, grab the Jason Poe book SilverMike mentioned. You'll find the Amazon link to buy it in physics-fan3.14's post right above mine - it's in his signature underneath what he posted. He's Jason Poe, and that should give you an idea of just_how_much expertise is available to you in forums like this. Grading is kind of an intimidating process at first, and the only way to learn it is via iteration. You have to look at a lot of coins before it becomes comfortable for you. The problem is, coins don't necessarily wear in identical patterns, and it's always a subjective call as to how much wear (or how many marks on a Mint State coin) you see. The same features don't always wear evenly on every example. A lesser strike can look like wear as well. It's....complicated. Another complication is the sort of deceptive nature of online imagery, especially when it comes to Mint State coins. You can steepen your learning curve a lot by leveraging online databases of coin images for grading; PCGS has a particularly nice one here: http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/ The images are a tad smaller than I like, but quite clear. Also, become a member of Heritage Auctions - ha.com (no financial information required to join) - and access their huge database of extremely high resolution images of coins they've sold. It currently amounts to almost two million US coins and a quarter of a million World coins. PCGS Coin Facts (http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/) is chock full of information on US coinage, including huge images of the high-grade examples of each featured coin, including varieties in many cases. Fair warning: The better the image, the more deceptive it will probably be. A collector who is experienced at grading in-hand will consistently undergrade digital imagery during their learning process, because digital cameras exaggerate marks/features which aren't as important to grade in the real world. It stands to reason - even a Morgan Dollar in-hand is still only an inch and a half across, but when I post one online it's....huge: It stands to reason that you'll see things you wouldn't, holding it in your hand. The most important tool for your learning process, though, is what's in front of you here. There are experts in every aspect of the hobby posting in online communities, ready to lend you their expertise and opinions. We do a bazillion "Guess the Grade (GTG)" threads here where you can sharpen grading skills and compare your opinions to those of others.
I hardily agree.....books and look at tons and tons of coins. You can even check out your local coin club, if there is one. And you know what? It's satisfying and a whole lot of fun to boot!
And that's another thing. TPG grading standards have changed over the years. They started tight, gradually loosened for many years, and have now swung back towards something resembling the "usual" standard. Makes it difficult to look exclusively at slabbed coins to learn grading; you'll see both under- and over-graded coins in slabs (more of the latter than the former).
