Shouldn't all proof be graded 70?

All this hallabaloo is about nothing more than bragging rights anyway. The coin in my avatar is AU58 and I am asked all the time of it has a PL designation...... Some folks like to compete. I get it. But if you aren’t competing, then why does it matter? You buy the coin that appeals to you because other than @Insider and maybe a few others here, I doubt that most any of us could genuinely tell the difference between a 69 and 70 grade.

 

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My father left my brother and I his coin collection. We were in our mid 60's at the time and didn't know one penny from another. When I got my half of the coin collection, the "bug" hit me and I looked at every coin that I got. My father wasn't much of a coin collector. Anyway, I studied a bit about coin collecting, but it was not enough. I found a dealer in the yellow pages and went to see him. We became friends, but I still didn't know much. However, I read some magazines and saw where gold and silver coins should be entered in my collection. The dealer, still my friend said he had just gotten some gold coins, so I asked to see them. One coin was a graded MMIX Ultra High Relief Gold coin. I really liked it, so I bought it. Like I said, I didn't know anything about grading. Upon examination, the coin had been graded by PCGS with an MS68. Anyway, I loved the packaging. I even got the shipping box. I was happy with the grade until I was told that a MS68 for that coin isn't too marketable. A second item that happened for grading.... I bought a Gold Liberty Double Eagle and a Gold Liberty Eagle RAW. I had been reading up about the importance of grading, so my dealer said he was going to a Coin Show and he could get the coins graded cheaper than if I sent them directly. The Double Eagle came back with a details grading that the obverse had a scratch on it. I had to really look to find it, but I did find it, finally. The Eagle came back with an MS-61. It was then, that started reading up about grading. I now, don't care if the coin is graded or not in some of my purchases, but the more expensive coins, I don't buy unless they are graded. I still don't or can't look at coins close enough to find "details" in the coins.

 

Randy Abercrombie, posted: "All this hallabaloo is about nothing more than bragging rights anyway. The coin in my avatar is AU58 and I am asked all the time of it has a PL designation...... Some folks like to compete. I get it. But if you aren’t competing, then why does it matter? You buy the coin that appeals to you because other than @Insider and maybe a few others here, I doubt that most any of us could genuinely tell the difference between a 69 and 70 grade."

Come on Randy. By far, the two EASIEST TECHNICAL (no commercial wiggle room - perfect or not) GRADES to identify are MS/PR-70 and MS/PR-69!

Why is that so? Anyone?

 

Why do I feel like I took a long dive in the shallow end of the pool?.... My answer is because perfection is unwavering. It either is or it isn’t.

 

I very rarely get the answer I expect. But logically, Shouldn't there be much less 68-69 first Strikes than 70's in a perfect world?

 

In a perfect world there will be fewer 68 FS than 70 FS than 69 FS. So you have a very rare yet worth less coin. A 66 or 67 FS would be even more rare yet worth much less. Did that answer the question better?

 

Well then, don't you include yourself in the group with me and a few others?

 

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. When I bought my MMIX UHR coin, it was graded MS68. Anyone I told that I had that coin in MS68, told me to get rid of it and use the money to buy something else.

 

Yep. Best lesson I had in a while.

 

If you crack that 68 out of the slab it should look just as nice as a 69 or 70 to the majority of collectors who see it. I had a raw one an never bothered to have it graded. When I wanted some fast cash I sold it w/o a second thought. They are beautiful coins.

 

Randy Abercrombie, posted: "Yep. Best lesson I had in a while."

Hope others here learned something too. A 70 should be perfect.

 

I'm afraid I'm going to do something stupid if I crack the slab. I have all of the Mint stuff, even the shipping box. I would like to have the coin in something to protect it tho. Any recommendations?

 

kind of like being pregnant...

 

Either leave it alone or buy a snap together holder you can do yourself...be sure to work over a table with a soft covering...

 

It would not be worth less to me, because there is a real thing called population, and if something is supposed to be perfect and it is not, someone will consider it an error, that got past QC, and capitilize on the fact.

 

Good question, so why do it?

That isn't a Proof Ike, it's a business strike quality Ike.

 

The "thing called population" often relies on reports from TPGs. A lot of "imperfect" coins never get sent to a TPG -- if I can see a blemish on the coin, I know it's got no shot at 70, so why bother? -- so those population reports are inherently biased.

Also, suppose there are 10000 examples in PF70, 5000 in PF69, 100 in PF68, and 2 in PF67. If someone decided that PF67 examples were a "condition rarity" and therefore worth more than the others, it would be dead easy to crack out a 69, bonk it a few times in the frost with another coin, and resubmit it for the lower grade.

A coin in PF67 can't be worth more than a coin in PF70, because you can get a PF70 and turn it into a PF67.

 

This is very true. But bonking it with a hammer would likely reduce the grade to well below a 67. LOL We could be rich.

 

Your correct I can't tell the difference between a 69 vs 70.. but in my defense sometimes I cant tell the difference between a 10 AND 1 at closing time..

 

...but I can tell a hawk from a handsaw.