The Official CoinTalk Grading Experiment 16

If only you could animate the coins like @RonSanderson does.
Here's one of his "golden copper" coins in action.(see attachment)

I went with 63. Too many distractions in the fields for better grade. my first impression was 61/62... Gold is harder to judge than silver or copper to me. Especially the incused Indians.

 

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Looking at it now, I believe i went too high at 64. The reveal will be interesting.

 

Alright folks, time to wrap this one up, I think. There were only 27 votes on this one, but the trends weren't great. This coin is graded PCGS 64 CAC. Cointalk gave this an average 62.3, a full 1.7 points low. I understand the arguments, but I think calling this 58 is quite harsh. The correct answer was the most commonly picked, but only 33% picked it.

 

Blatantly overgraded... a mistake by PCGS

 

So then, a mistake by CAC too?

 

They are not 100% infallible, so...

 

They too are human.

 

You’re kidding right?

 

Sure, send me all your gold! I will take pictures and post them.

Probably under “New Acquisitions“.

 

And that's a good reason not to pay a premium for a CAC bean...

 

Even if the the only “wear” on the high points is due to coin-on-coin friction (which can’t be confirmed from the photos), a ton of the luster was disturbed. Coupled with the chatter in the fields (and possible rub), I stand by my assessment that this coin maxes at 63.

Keep in mind, of the 16 rounds, this was the first time that I said a coin was blatantly overgraded.

 

My point is that if you are grading a coin MS63, and it is actually graded MS64, it can’t be “blatantly” or “egregiously” overgraded.

Btw, how many Saints have you owned in your lifetime?

 

That was my “generous” grade. I still believe it should be lower.

Owned? 0. Examined? Hundreds. Both real and fake. But a fraction of what @Insider has examined.

Big gold is too much of a value sink for me, especially with many more-interesting coins at lower prices, and the value is too volatile with the price of gold.

 

The fact that over 60% of Cointalkers think this coin should grade MS63 or better doesn’t dissuade you from the convictions of your grade?

I’m sorry but I don’t think that looking at coins in a show or shop provides the same knowledge as ownership does. My guess is that most of the people in the 60% referenced above have owned a Saint in their lifetime.

 

66, beautiful coin.

 

Nope. Most of the responders who noticed the friction said the same thing I did. I’d guess most of the 60% didn’t notice the friction.

 

I'd guess that comment is insulting to most of the 60%. The friction is obvious, they simply understand that high point friction on Saints, without friction in the fields, is excused as roll/stacking friction and they graded the coin accordingly as a mint state coin.

 

65

 

The obverse has some flaws on the field and the reverse looks flawless. So I would say ms66+

 

guess I was too picky about the friction on the high points. Looking in the pcgs grading guide, quote: "There is almost always "frost" disruption on the breast and knee, with only the modern counterfeits showing complete frost in those areas."