After participating in another GTG thread on CT I wondered what value other CT members place on these. As a whole, I've been humbled at how little I know about grading many coin series. Over time I've been very impressed how much knowledge some members have and thoroughly enjoy learning about series I have little or no experience with. I also have placed a high value on certain members of CT. Hopefully, before I get put out to pasture, I'll feel more comfortable providing valuable information to other CT members instead of my typical dribble. Lastly, which CT members opinions do you most highly value?
My number one guy is @physics-fan3.14. Jason and I have been posting on all three forums for over a decade and we have similar approaches to grading coins. Additionally, he has actually written a book on coin grading. I hesitate to list too many other names because then I will invariably forget some very knowledgeable people, but the names that pop into my head right away are @C-B-D, @ToughCOINS, @ddddd, @Mainebill, @brg5658, @Paddy54.
There are way too many CT members who know their stuff to mention them all. But in general, I’d blindly trust those three gentlemen who frequently post here: 1) Doug aka @GDJMSP 2) Mike aka @Insider 3) Jason aka @physics-fan3.14 Just to mention a few others: Errors & varieties: @Paddy54 World Coins: @Seattlite86 German States: @Rheingold Bust halves: @okbustchaser Key dates: @ToughCOINS Copper/Colonials: @Eduard Cherry-picking: @C-B-D ...and I trust myself to select the nicest coins out there for my collection ;-)
To me, even though there are some great graders here on CT, the one who is most in line with PCGS and NGC, (as in, nailing down the TPG grade), is @messydesk . Plus, he got like 8th place in this years NGC grading challenge.
As the host of the Official CoinTalk Grading Experiment, I may be biased in saying that I find the GTG threads incredibly useful as a teaching/learning tool. I always used to say that the absolute best way to learn to grade was to look at hundreds of graded examples of coins and compare your grade to theirs. However, I've come to realize that is the long way round - you can look at 20 coins with an experienced grader, pointing out what they see and why they grade the coin the way they do, and that is *far* more useful thank looking at 200 coins on your own. The most valuable 4 minutes of my numismatic career is when I went to FUN and had the president of NGC, Mark Salzberg, look at three of my coins. The amount I learned in that single 4 minute period, as he explained the grades on my coins (and directed the staff to upgrade one of my coins!) was absolutely brilliant. If you are going to a big show, try to arrange some one-on-one time with a leading grader/collector/dealer, and have them talk through why your coins graded the way they did while you look at them together. Absolutely the most valuable time you'll spend at a show! I always encourage people to post their impressions and opinions in the GTG threads, because that's the only way we can help! If I see someone talking about how the marks on a coin lower the grade to AU, I can point out their errors. If I see someone talking about how cameo contrast is required for a PL coin, I can teach them about the actual requirements for a PL coin. I really don't know what I need to help with until I know what people need! And really, the same goes for me: I'm still learning, there are many things I still don't know yet. The expert on that coin or that series doesn't know to teach me that knowledge until I ask the question or make a silly statement. This is the power of the GTG threads: I can learn and teach, and the information is freely shared. That's the whole point of being here, right? And this is why I hope *everyone* feels welcome to post their thoughts on a GTG. Either you are knowledgeable about the coin and can share your insights with others, or you are learning about that coin and we need to know what you need to know. As for CoinTalk graders I highly respect: @Lehigh96 , @messydesk , @C-B-D have to be very high on my list. We don't necessarily always agree, but I highly respect their knowledge and experience, and their ability to articulate the reason for their grade.
I am very honored to be included in the names noted above by both Paul and Michael. I would like the think that we all do tend to agree to disagree......old school vs new ..... But we all do our best to share what we know with the members here, as well out there in our own nusmatic world. It does amaze me of the wealth of knowledge that is posted here....in these threads .....yours for the taking free! Well cheers my friends to all the ones we have lost.....their words and knowlege forever to be found here .....and cheers to all who login to learn and share......
The top graders here imo are @messydesk , @physics-fan3.14 , @Lehigh96 , and @C-B-D . My strength is authentication because it is a yes or no answer.
Flattered by those who value my opinion. As for whose grading opinions I value, it tends to be those who are not only consistently good at guessing a TPG grade correctly, but can also articulate why they grade something the way they do. As @physics-fan3.14 (who is in that group along with @Lehigh96, @C-B-D, @ddddd, probably a few others) said regarding his conversation with Mark Salzberg, this is how you can really learn what goes into a grade. I absolutely agree that time is well-spent having someone explain a grade to you. They may look at a coin and instantly tell you "64," but if you get an explanation, you get to see what knowledge has been burned into their minds that led them to say that. Grading from pictures can be hit-or-miss, especially if the quality of the pictures varies. I've gotten good at grading from Heritage photos because I've looked at a lot of them. I'm not quite as confident with Stacks/Bowers photos. When possible, I follow that up by actually looking at the coins in lot viewing, comparing the coin in hand with notes I made about them from the pictures. Next time you're at a show where you can view lots, pick a series and spend some time learning grades. Great way to learn. If you participate in Jason's GTG experiment and are consistently wrong, look back at the ones you got wrong, read comments of those that were right and try to assimilate that information. Iterative learning, even if only one tiny bit of information at a time, will make you better at grading. If you skip this step and just write it off as being wrong, then you're missing a chance to improve.
I find GTG to be immensely educational and incredibly entertaining. I hope I used sufficiently superlatives to make my point. I seem to have about a 60% accuracy so far which is probably better than my actual skill level. I appreciate the dialog about each coin's characteristics as it increases the depth of knowledge accrued. Please keep up the good work.
I had stopped participating in the GTG threads. I bought Jason's book and have referred to it to see why I missed the mark on several of my guesses more than once....... See, I have long regarded myself as a rabid hobbyist rather than a numismatist. To me, this is a new era of coin collecting. I have found that I like what I like and that often flies in the face of accepted numismatic standards these days. I do use the valuable information I have gained here at CT to judge my purchases far more critically these days and for that I am ever grateful. I suppose I am just an old dog that is satisfied to be set in his ways.
I'm inexperienced and am grateful for the posts that I have read and the GTG experience. I have the books and the desire to learn from the people here that have the ability to grade a wide variety of coins. I'm missing about 45 years of experience in numismatics and I'm thankful for the people who are willing to help those of us who don't know. Thank you all!
I too enjoy the experience of seeing how my grades, as an amateur, compare to the experts. I can comprehend why the GTG coins on this site are predominantly US coins, but, as a world coin collector, I would like to see more discussion of grading world coins. I also enjoy seeing any commentary on the Sheldon grade as opposed to how the coin would grade, for example, using British standards.
Those sorts of discussions are interesting, but there are *very few* collectors from Britain here compared to the US. The same could be said of any major collecting region - France, Germany, Poland, Japan, Russia, etc. Each has their own grading scale, views coins differently, and prioritizes certain things differently. And each is quite under-represented on this site.
Yes, I understand why the coins of other countries are under-represented on this site ... and thus discussions of grading those coins using the home country standards. Thus although I'm a world coin collector, most of my education comes from grading US coins. By the way, I have your grading book, have studied it, and found it quite useful. Many topics, such as evaluating surface conditions, apply to all coins, no matter the country or the grading system. My previous post was just expressing a wish, an interest, in how US standards compare to grading systems of other countries. I expect that many of my better coins will be eventually sold to buyers from these other countries. So it's instructional for me to know how the grading systems of various countries correlate ... or do not correlate to US grading standards.
GTG has been an excellent learning experience. Thanks to all of you have initiated these threads. In my over 40 years of active coin collecting, grading has evolved and it is necessary to evolve accordingly. Dan
Guess the grade threads can be quite fun and often are great learning experiences (even if some-ok me -like to highlight the outliers, there is still information to be gained from those). I have particularly enjoyed @physics-fan3.14 series of guess the grade posts. Coming as close as possible to standardizing the process has brought great value and it should be interesting to see the final analysis he shares. @Lehigh96 also constantly provides solid content and is someone whose opinion I value. Scores of others (many who have and haven't been listed already) are also very knowledgeable. The beauty of guess the grade though, is that anyone can participate and develop their skills over time.
I'm a learning newbie so GTG are very educational for me. And I'm feeling more confident because of them; especially in the heat of the moment when I'm at a coin show.
