1st day collecting. I've got the red book, a 5x magnifyer, and some 2X2. About grading. I have 3 of 2004-D nickles Jeff on one side, boat on reverse. Under the lens, 2 look worn a little,the third shows no wear at all on one side, the Jeff side shows not much, but a little scratch across his collar. The red book says MS63 is worth $.25 and MS65 is worth $.75. Using only the info I've given here, would you guess it as a 63, or 65, or neither. (I know you're LOL about it being a 2204...but play along just for the theory). I have made email contact with guys in town that can help face to face some day, but I don't get there often, as it's 45miles one way and gas ain't cheap. There's a coin show up there the end of August, so I'll get an earful then. I haven't begun to get through mom's old coins yet, and my wife just walked in and dumped 2 gallon jar of quarter,dimes,nickles,pennies, she stores from change each time she shops of the last 4 years. Even though I'm retired and have nothing to do, the task of sorting through these coins is daunting. I have been looking at each for quaility, and saving the best, but now I have to check ALL of them for dates and marks, I guess.
what you are doing, is akin to searching rolls of coins. To me - very daunting! i just couldnt do it. But others love it to death! Basically, dont feel you HAVE to do it if you dont want to or dont like it. The best thing about this hobby is there is NOwrong way. do whatever you like and howver makes you happy. if you force yourself to do thing or in a way that you dont want to.. it may help you discover a distaste for the hobby... none of us want that if you do find anything special in your search - let us know as for the grade, the red book does offer some help at the very front of each denomination and section on grading that section;. Check just under the jefferson 5 cent heading, it should list a few grades with suggestions of what makes a coin that grade. good luck
My recommendation is to get the ANA grading book. Now is this a scratch or is this just a tick mark - there is a difference. A scratch would mean a damaged coin(does not mean it is not collectible) and a tick mark in the right spot would lower the grade from (for example) 64 to 63. Enough bag marks and you go even lower. Now I am also assuming these are uncirculated coins and you see no signs of wear.
all my coins come to me as "change",therefore they fall into 3 catagories; circulated, well circulated, and overcirculated. (But I think this nickel is pretty swell). What I'm doing, for lack of a better education at this, is sorting out the coins that look newest and have the least wear. I have copied some of the replies to "Lincoln Help" thread which lay out a plan for sorting my coins. Now I have to figure out my objective. Initially, it was just to sell as many coins as I could, but now, I'm starting LIKE the little buggers!
There is no quick way to learn how to grade coins. Just stay at it with pocket change and maybe some Internet/Brick & Mortar Shops purchases of more HTF coins. I'd also agree with Mark, find an ANA grading book. The most important things are to enjoy yourself, learn from your mistakes, and pass it on (the enjoyment of the hobby) to as many others as you can. Good Luck Ben
its really going to take time. Time and more time. Look at all the coins you can, that is the best way to get a feel for wear.
Since your looking at a lot of modern coins , the Cherry Pickers Guide might be of interest to you , it shows all the unique coins that bring a premium , all you need is a 10X or stronger loupe and the time . rzage
Look at lots and lots of coins. Read a lot (ANA, Photograde, and PCGS grading guide are all recommended). Pay attention to guess the grade threads. Find a mentor. But more than anything... THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR TIME SPEND LOOKING AT COINS IN-HAND.
p.s. learn the nuances of the factors that go into a grade: Strike, wear/hits, luster, and eye appeal.
p.p.s. learn how to grade ONE series really well before branching out. the lessons you learn will likely apply to other series of coins, but it's much easier to start with one series and branch out to others.
p.p.p.s. make your first series a CHEAP series (preferably pocket change). So when you make mistakes (and you WILL make mistakes), they are cheap ones.
And to answer your question : "Using only the info I've given here, would you guess it as a 63, or 65, or neither. " I'd guess two are below 63, and likely AU. The third is a around a 61-64, but could be also "damaged" (i.e. worth $0.05), depending on how bad the scratch is (a picture would help). Take care & good luck....Mike p.s. I also like the idea of buying the Cherypicker's Guide, particularly if you have a lot of change to go through -- a great way to be introduced to coin collecting!
It sounds like you have a mix of old and new coins. Find a way to separate them in some way, maybe by decade and type. For the change your wife saved, if you want to save time just check for silver coins, wheat cents, silver nickels from the World War II years, and anything with an S mintmark. The rest might not be worth your time unless you are really happy deep diving into them. Some of the older coins might be fairly valuable even if somewhat worn or scratched because of their scarcity or silver value. I like Photograde as a first book about grading coins because it's easy to use -- but only covers circulated coins. You can compare the photos to your coins fairly easily to get a pretty good idea of the grade. If you plan to sell any of the coins to a coin shop, sell only a few at a time and start with the most recent [which are likely to be the least valuable]. This will give you some experience about what things are worth. If you plan to keep all of them, you might want to sort them into date/mintmark collections. There are endless possibilities depending on how much time you want to spend on them. Just remember the most important thing -- have fun.
