1875-S Seated Half Dollar question from Zoid

It has really nice detail, and is an attractive coin. However, it won’t straight grade. AU details. It is way too overdipped, and has the flat look of a cleaned coin. Shame, as it would have been really nice in original condition.

 

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My thought high au and cleaned

 

Okay, time to edjamacate me. I've seen the term "straight grade" being used in multiple threads, but for the life of me, I cannot extract it's meaning from the context.

What does "straight grade" imply that "crooked grade" does not.

Yes, it's a serious question.

Z

 

I'm not an expert, but from my understanding, a straight grade is when a TPG actually assigns a number on the Sheldon scale (1-70) on the coin.
A "crooked grade", as you call it is when they notice a cleaning or some other artificial flaws, but still think the coin is good enough to encapsulate, so they'll call it "UNC Details - Cleaned" or "AU Details". This does drop the market value a good bit over a straight grade, but depending on condition can still pull in decent money.
If the cleaning is too harsh, or there's a graffiti or any other whoppers, they would simply refuse to slab it.

Further complicating the matter is the concept of "net grading", where if the cleaning was done really long ago and the toning of the coin has recovered to look more natural, they might internally net grade to call a AU details coin an XF40 or 45 on the slab, implying they think it'll sell for that money. There was a book I was reading which went in depth about how the TPGs generally do market grading rather than technical grading, and so rare issues might have an XF slabbed as an AU, and so on.

 

Straight = numerical grade, no major problems (good)
Details grade = grade range, e.g. AU Details - incl. description of the problem (bad)

 

Good post, but I have to correct this statement. TPGs use terms such as “improperly cleaned” or “harshly cleaned” to be more specific.

Coins with “graffiti” are certified as well.
https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/7552/learn-grading-details-grading/