question

When one is first trying to learn how to grade coins it seems logical that looking at pictures of coins with established grades would be helpful. And it can be, but only to a limited degree. But when there is no written explanation that goes along with each picture to help one understand why that particular coin was graded that particular grade, well, trying to learn how to grade by looking at pictures will not only not be helpful, it can even be harmful. Here's an example.

If someone who didn't know what they were looking at when they looked at this picture on the PCGS website referenced above -




- I think it would be pretty hard for that person to not say something like this to themselves. "Wait a minute, that coin graded 58 looks a whole lot better to me than the ones graded 61 and 62. Why is that ?" And if you don't have somebody to explain it to you, well, where does that leave you ?

The ideal situation is when the one learning can sit down with someone who already knows how to grade so things can be shown and explained bit by bit, a piece at a time. But for most people it's pretty hard to do that. So when you're first starting it's best to read books so you can gain at least some understanding of the process. And notice I said books, not book. Yeah, you need to read more than one, you'll need to read several in fact, and even that's still just the beginning - the first step.

Learning how to grade coins is not easy, it's downright difficult, but it can be done. But, it's going to take a while. Some people may spend all their lives trying to do it and still never actually be able to do it correctly. Others will pick it up more quickly.

Now I'm not saying to lose hope or not bother trying. If you are going to collect coins you DO NEED to learn how to grade for yourself. And no, you can't rely on the TPGs to do it for you either, and there's many of, and complicated reasons for that.

So read the books, study them, get to know them, understand what is written in them. And then start looking at pictures, while you have a book or books in your hand so you can read what the book says while you look at the picture.

Anyway, here's another book - http://www.coingrading.com - and this one's available online, completely free.

And here's one more -
https://www.amazon.com/Official-Gui...=1493817603&sr=8-3&keywords=pcgs+coin+grading

Those 3 books (these 2 and the 1 above) are where you start. And do yourself a favor, do it in the way I suggested - read and study the books first. If you try shortcuts like reading the books and looking at pictures when you first start out - you'll just make it worse for yourself. And you'll have to go back and unlearn everything you learned wrong. You see, your mind has to be prepared first so you can interpret correctly and understand the pictures when you do look at them.