How exactly DO you grade a coin?

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Need to buy and read "Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards" for US coins: Book covers all the details of grading. Defines MS 70...MS69. Tells you when scratches will hurt grade and when it will not. The book solved all my issues about grading. Book covers the details by U.S. coin. Even defines when mint luster is needed for the grade. Then goes into every US coin and how it's graded. EVERY COLLECTOR NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT HOW TO GRADE COIN. I carry the book to all coin events and everywhere. This book tells you by category what are the grading elements. You cannot collect unless you have this book....... and you read it and understand all the issues. You cannot leave grading to an outside source.

 

......and that's not all there is.

There is eye appeal, strike, luster.....it is an art and not a science.

Look at 100,000 coins and then that's just a start.[/QUOTE]

The inevitable result of refusing to use the quote function, which Insider knows all about.

 

If you are looking to improve your grading skills of uncirculated coins, why not start participating in the Guess the Grade threads on this forum. They are a fun way to obtain the answers you seek. And if your grade is wrong, it provides you an opportunity to ask others questions about why they graded the coin differently than you did.

 

I'm not a stacker so I don't but any raw Coins period. I'm sure your gonna get better at it.

 

I am no expert grader, for sure, but I am getting better. Generally my focus is on modern US coins and I have been CRH for about 10 years. I pull out any coins that are seemingly valuable and the best UNC grades I can spot. Every so often I go thru the ones I have sorted and saved, and cull out all but the top few. This reminds me of the ones I don't look to save unless I think they might be MS65 or higher. This is because most of the modern business strike coins only become valuable in really high grades. A couple years ago I started buying some high graded examples and now my focus is on being able to spot a coin that could be graded MS66 to MS68. Realistically, extremely few will ever get a 69 or 70 unless it is a first strike designation, and my goal is to be able to know which coins are valuable and in which grades and possibly find some raw, either in CRH or in buying raw from someone who might not be into that niche market. Eisenhowers, in particular need to be MS67 or more to usually fetch the bigger prices.
I don't worry too much right now about where in the MS60-64 range a coin falls as long as I can confidently place it above that. Sometimes that has been difficult, but I expect I will get better.
The highest grade I 'know' I found in CRH was a MS66... because I had it slabbed... sold it for nearly two hundred... it was a 2008 error coin. The higher price was because it was an error, but I was really pleased to confirm that a coin pulled from a mixed roll (not all same year and mm, and containing older clad quarters too) would grade that high.

Basically practice however you can for the type of coin you like, then buy or find a place to examine some in the high grades, and practice some more. Books showing grading and points of first wear help also.

 

Thanks man! This is exactly the same advice I would have given