I'm taking a slight detour on my AI Coin Sorting project to scratch a curiosity I have. I'm creating a case study to evaluate if it makes sense for third-party grading companies to implement AI as the first grader in bulk grading. My goal is to determine how effective this could be in reducing turnaround times for bulk modern coin submissions. Below are some questions I'd love the community's input on. You don't need to answer them all; any insights are appreciated! If you know someone who might have answers, please tag them! For Collectors Who Have Submitted Bulk Modern Coins (e.g., American Silver Eagles, Modern Morgan/Peace Dollars): Which grading service did you use, and how long did it take from shipping your coins to receiving them back? Did the actual turnaround time meet your expectations? What was the cost per coin for grading, and did you receive any bulk discounts? Are you satisfied with the current turnaround times for bulk submissions? If not, how would faster processing impact your collecting or business activities? Would you trust an AI-assisted grading process if it led to faster turnaround times, provided that final grading decisions still involved human graders? Insights on Professional Grading Practices: How many graders typically assess each coin in bulk submissions? Is it standard for coins to be evaluated by three graders (two initial graders and one finalizer) at PCGS, NGC, CAC, and ANACS? What is the average salary range for a bulk coin grader at a third-party grading company? Approximately how many coins can a bulk coin grader process in an hour? How many hours does a typical grader work in a day, excluding breaks? For those working in the coin grading industry, what are the biggest bottlenecks in the grading process for bulk modern coins? Are there peak periods when turnaround times are longer? What factors contribute to these delays? Any information or experiences you can share would be incredibly helpful. When I finish this case, I will share it with the community
I believe that most of the grading services have ask their graders to not post on coin forums. I don't think Skip will be able to reply to this thread.
I heard one dealer say at the recent Tampa show that he was charged one price for a Morgan Dollar grade and more, $50, if the same type of coin is graded MS-65. That sounds like a conflict of interest to me.
That makes total sense. Some of these questions could be answered by the wider coin community thankfully. Any insights I get will help me come up with a better analysis if AI bulk coin grading can help reduce turn around times. I'm not sure I understand this johnmilton. This dealer was saying that the grading price was dependent on the final grade of the coin?
I've only submitted once but it seemed clear to me that if the grade put the coin into a higher value tier, you'd be charged for that higher grading tier.
Do you get a refund if it comes back in a lower grade? Nope. That's why I avoid giving direct business to the TPGs.
I think that the AI should be treated as a tool (at least at this stage of AI evolution). It would make sense, that the AI checks each coin, marks down all the anomalies (spots, scratches, hairlines, whatever) and then the grader assigns grade based on that info. Its easy for human to miss some problems on coins after looking coins hours and hours. But i wouldn't trust AI to do full decision. I have seen too many AI decisions and suggestions...
Are there any surgeries done without humans Yes, a few Appendectomy, Colectomy,and Gallbladder removal. but they are watched by a human(s) that should have superior knowledge to determine there was no mistakes or harm happening. So would YOU all let a AI work on your colon with no Doctor level watching? So if the AI device is doing a coin, I would want a Professional grader to work along with the AI, and the expense would likely be more expensive than just a professional grader. So:.....Do you think the above was written by Me alone , or me and my AI, My AI alone , or my AI with a professional grader ? Jim
I don't use TPGs enough to answer the questions. My thoughts on AI assistance in grading. It might help to run the coins through AI first to put the coins in groups of say MS68, M69, and so on. This should be easier for the human grader to get an idea of the coin group he or she is looking at to differentiate or sort out coins from that graded group. This might be faster, but what do I know. Regards.
There is also the difficulty of Coin Errors. A plain 1955 cent may have no trouble for the AI in grading conditions, but what when there is a die deteriorated 1955 or a 1955/1955 DDO in determining a grade? A human would likely see it right away without special training that an AI would need or might call it damage. Over time with faster chips and huge data storage ( and very large expense) it can occur. Some of the computers for combat are almost there in my opinion, so the expense could be possible for big companies, but we would probably have to pay for its usage over the internet unless you are in a large university or rich. IMO Jim
It's been a while back but I believe the major grading services spent time and money trying to make AI something that worked with the grading process. I'll guess they still have their eye on it but don't see a good way to use it along with skilled human graders.
Judging by the idiotic item descriptions generated presumably by AI on ebay, at this point I would not trust it to grade coins. I'm curious if you or anyone has had this happen. If you paid PCGS $70 because you thought it would grade at some phenomenal MS67 $10K+ value and it came back AU Details and would have been in their <$300 $23 economy tier, wouldn't they refund you the difference?
