Technical Grade vs. Eye Appeal

He didn't say that.

 

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Thanks for the clarifications, Doug. As I said, I believed (thought) I understood you before. Now I do. For me, eye appeal and overall condition means a lot, plus the history of the times when the coin was made. I have bought my fair share of stinkers that I have or will have replaced. As for graded coins in a slab, not only will I get the coin and not the slab, but will also ignore any grade written on a 2x2.

 

The OP coin was the same type, year, and MM, the difference was the higher grade-vs- a lower graded (2pts.) coin with more eye appeal.
What about an AU 58 -vs- a low MS (60-62) ? (discounting color, or value)
Many of us would choose the 58 due to eye appeal as a little rub/wear is more attractive than a heavily bag marked coin. So eye appeal over numerical number, if all else is equal.

 

Okay, so look at these two coins and tell me how these two would appeal to you. To me, this is a matter of eye appeal over grade, but how would each of them grade? And which one would you keep?

 

I'd take the #2. Obviously the first coin is well worn and as such has smoother surfaces. There is a big enough difference in value that it's not a great comparison.
XF-vs-MS.

 

The difference between technical grade and eye-appeal is a critical point that I failed to address in my original post. GDJMSP (Doug?) provided a perfect summarization of what I meant by technical grade. When I use this term, I am referring to the grade of the coin independent of eye appeal and luster. I define “market grading” as the incorporation of eye appeal and luster with technical grade. This approach may seem odd, given the current industry standard, but I use both technical and market grading when making my purchase decisions. This process may be a by-product of how I typically buy coins (i.e., often raw and almost always online). Evaluating the technical grade provides me some buffer against purchasing raw coins that do not meet my set goal criteria for overall grade. Market grading allows me to narrow the playing field even more by further reducing the possibilities to coins that are not scuzzy or overridden with unattractive toning.

My original question aimed to explore a scenario in which one coin had a higher technical grade and plenty of eye appeal, but another coin had a lower technical grade and more eye appeal. In this case, I am not comparing an attractive coin to an unattractive coin, but rather two attractive coins (albeit one is slightly more attractive IMHO) that moderately differ in technical grade (i.e., roughly 2 points). To this extent, what would you choose?

A. An attractive coin with a moderately higher technical grade.

B. An arguably more attractive coin with a moderately lower technical grade.

For this scenario, let us assume the coins are both uncirculated, neither are cleaned (either harshly or just cleaned), and the higher technical grade is not a “condition rarity”. Furthermore, let us assume they are the same year, MM, and variety. In other words, let us assume they are equal in all cases with the exception eye appeal, technical grade, and a slight difference in price say $100 or so. Let’s also assume that eye appeal is based on your personal preferences, whatever that may be.

 

To be fair, their value would need to be close enough to not be a factor also.
So if they were there to choose from at near the same price/value, type, date, and MM, I'd choose eye appeal over numeric grade.

 

This is also a good point. I will edit the scenario above to reflect this.

 

IMHO, both of the grades you assigned to each of these coins ARE NOT IN THE BALL PARK. I'll bet you specialize in World coins.

I think it would be very educational for beginners on this forum if all of the "experts" discussed the grade of both coins with reasons for our grades. Who wishes to be brave and go first?

PS Doug wrote a very good description of "Technical Grading."

 

My grades. 1 = F12, eye appeal Ok but not great. ( possibly the reverse was lightly cleaned at some point.)
2. = Cleaned, AU. I don't like it.

I'd keep the first , the second hurts my eyes.

 

That's more like it! I agree. VG-11 probably a 12 and cleaned AU-55. I'd keep the first and sell the second.

BTW, does anyone see the difference between these two grading descriptions that we used for internal records? There was a very "technical" difference. LOL.

Cleaned AU.
AU, Cleaned.

 

Interesting. I bought the second to replace the first because of what I considered better eye appeal to me. When I posted the first one in an earlier thread people said it was ugly, and I admit it is pretty dark and worn.

 

In the images, the first is a very attractive circulated coin. IF it was abused in any way in the past, it is not obvious. The second coin SCREAMS I'm not original from three feet away. Notice the change of color around the edges of the relief.

Look, the second coin has tons more detail. Over a very long period of time, it may tone down as the first but an experienced numismatist will still know that it was abused by the rounded relief from the cleaning. Most folks prefer a bright shiny coin over a dull gray one anyway. The most important thing is which coin do YOU prefer?

 

Are those scans for that second coin or actual pictures?

 

I don't know, but I'm interested

 

It is easy, think about how the words express the grade.

Cleaned AU.
AU, Cleaned.

 

Help me out, people.
I just finished blowing off a combine.
May have to sleep on this one

 

Both coins are scanned.

 

I do prefer the second one because of the details, and because it is a bit brighter. But what I don't see is what you call a rounded relief. Please point it out to me so I can learn what to look for.

In hand the coin is shiny, but as I move it in the light I notice the areas in the fields that show a little darker. And there seems to be a very thin brighter line around the face on the obverse, plus the same effect from the edge to the stars. Is that the result of the cleaning? If so, then not only do I like the way it looks otherwise, but also as a learning experience.