New grading system? MS64.5?

This is not a new idea, Accugrade was doing the decimal grading in 1984. Compugrade revived the idea and was doing it in 1991.

CGS-UK did it in 2007.

 

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+1

 

.......i agree!!

 

I disagree.
US coin collectors understand it quite well.
And to varying degrees, so does the rest of the world.
They may not like it, but at least they understand it.

As good as the metric system is (and I agree that it's far superior to the English system), it's not what the general populace in the US understands.
A high percentage have no instinctive feeling for it.
The disruption in converting from English to metric would seriously harm the US economy, and at the moment we're doing quite well at that without additional help.

IMO the same arguments apply to a metric grading system, but just at a much lower level of significance.

I've already alluded to the fact that the learning curve would steep and would throw US coin collecting into turmoil for a number of years (5 to 10 would be my guess).
This disruption would only make real sense if computer grading were also implemented, and we've pretty much determined that that is not feasible at this point in time.

And how would you break down the 100 scale into the various verbal descriptors?
What range would be considered Uncirculated? Or AU? Or XF? Etc.
Do away with the verbals? Sorry, I want to know where Unc starts.
Heck, we can't even get rid of BU, Choice BU, Gem BU, and all the variations on those terms.

And what is to be done with all the coins already slabbed?
Who would foot the bill for reslabbing with the new numbers?
And, no, doing away with slabbing is NOT an option.

A metric grading system would have worked if it was used at the onset for numerical grading.
Same as metric measurements.
Or the metric clock!
But, alas, we're pretty much stuck with what we've got.

 

Do not fix what not broken!

 

Considering most people have ten fingers and ten toes, and we work with a base 10 number system I would say we probably have a more instinctive feeling for the metric system than the english. The problem is we get TRAINED early on in the English system and not the metric system. And then when the metric system IS introduced it is done so with a bunch of "conversion factors" that result in horrible numbers with a bunch of decimals that no one wants to fool with. This makes everyone hate the metric system, The key is FORGET ABOUT CONVERTING! There is very little reason to convert back and forth between the two systems. And if they started out in school teaching the kids the metric system and then introduced the english system to them several years later I guarantee you the kids will be horrified by this terrible system and clammer for the metric system.

 

At first I thought this thread was a joke, but I see now that it's not. That makes it even worse, really. I mean, how finite can a grade get? What if a 64.6 could really be a 64.67825435678? I mean, isn't that where we're headed? It sounds silly ,but no more silly than the original decimal place in grading. And people wonder why I hate third party opinions that to me mean squat.
Guy~

 

I agree with jello, we're all enjoying the hobby as it is, so why complicate things?

 

I agree.
Start with the metric system.
And end with the metric system.
Forget about the English system altogether.
Most of the world doesn't use it anyway.

Unfortunately overcoming the inertia possessed by the English system in the US is nigh on impossible. Remember, it's been tried once.
Sort of like trying to get rid of the cent in the US.
But maybe we ought to try again.

 

I strongly disagree with assesing coins this way from TPG's.
How would you ever cherry a nice coin for the grade?
When I look at coins I grade them.. MS 6x (a,b,or c)
We don't need TPG's to do that for us.
That is just lazy, IMO, a person should put in the time required top learn a series, learn how to grade it and learn the differencr between a low end and a high end coin of the same grade.
I don't want/need a TPG telling me whether an MS 63 Large cent is an "a" or a "b".
I can figure that out for myself.
And if the answer to that is that some people can't tell the difference yet. Then they should not be putting themselves in the situation where they are splitting a single grade on a 70 point scale into fractions.

 

Just a not so minor point.
My #1 collection is a type set.
I don't have the time to learn all the series involved.
A quick count has me dealing with about 50 different series.
So I learn general grading techniques and then let the TPGs help me refine the grade.

 

Great point! I didn't think about that... Although I feel my point still stands.
I can't imagine a collector putting together a type set is super worried about splitting grades into decimals. It's about the coins, not so much the grades.

 

Never seriously. It was seriously done everywhere else in the world and it succeeded. Here we try with halfway measurs and if anyone complains we quit trying. And that goes with most things, not just the metric system. (Think replacing dollar bills with coins. We were the first to go that way with the SBA. Forty years later we are about the only country where it has failed and we haven't made the switch yet.) In fact we were one of the first countries to call for a switch to the metric system. Give us a little time, we'll get there. We've only been moving that way for 143 YEARS now! (the government first commited to switching to the metric system around 1866) We are now the ONLY first world country that hasn't switche to metric,and most of the second and third world countries have also gone metric

 

I don't think the vast majority of even experienced collectors would be in agreement upon the grade for any coin. To be honest, my opinion (which is in agreement with results of some small scale sampling/testing) is that even the "professional" graders do not agree anywhere near as often as I believe they should. Even the same grading house can vary substantially regarding multiple submissions of the same coin. I don't think the current system is all that usable, especially by the general collecting populace, but we are stuck with it. To further break it down is ludicrous and will reduce the already poor level of grading consistency. In such situations arise, I ask myself who is in favor for such change and why. Historically, such changes are promoted by the folks who stand to profit by the implementation. The collectors I know would not really care if their coin was an MS64 or an MS64.5 (and I don't think most collectors would be able to tell the difference between them anyway), but I imagine a dealer would have considerable interest in a half point higher grade. At this point in time, I see an expansion to a decimal point grading system merely as a scheme to relieve the general collecting populace of more of their hard earned dollars and nothing more.

Even if decimal point grading were adopted, I do not believe for a second that suddenly everyone will be in agreement on the assigned grade. All of the prior issues and arguments would still be there, modified a bit perhaps, but they would still be there.

 

As I said before do fix what not broken.
****but the all TPG could an extra detail on something like striking quality base on 1-100 scale like MS-63 93% strike detail.that would keep the 100 point folks happy.end the 4th party company