How did you learn to grade

How do you learn to grade? I assume that for most it is throught experience, but I am interested in hearing people's stories about how they came to learn to grade their coins and what their sources are.

 

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I have no idea how to grade a coin accurately nowadays. I grew up in an era where the Red Book first came out with those silly grades of only G, F, Unc and Proof. That's all there was and that's all I ever used for a long time. Then it got expanded to grades like G, VG, F, VF, AU, Proof. With that I really almost gave up. I still can't figure out why anyone would call a POOR coin a GOOD coin. To me GOOD means GOOD, not something almost POOR. See what happens when you get old. You just don't want to change. With the introduction of a 70 point system, I now just guess.
If someone changes to a 1,000 point system, I'll just completely give up.

 

yeah, how did we even get to a 70 point system... Why not 100, it would make more sense to me.

 

Still learning how to grade, I don't think it will ever end . I first used the ANA grading standards book(1), then Photograde (2) for a general idea on grading all U.S coins. Then I bought a couple of books Morgan dollars since I'm mainly collecting them. Probably one of the biggest helps was just hanging around CoinTalk, and watching all the guess the grade threads, IMO they are a huge help.

1- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0794819931/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2...

2- http://www.amazon.com/Photograde-Official-Photographic-Grading-United/dp/0307993612

 

If I thought I could take a decent picture, I'd post some for others to assist me grading.

What I am really considering though, is focusing on one or two types of coins. (I am particular to halves, just finished a book on Ben. Frankling by the way)

So, I think I will learn about grading in general by specifically learning more about halves. Does that make sense?

 

SSHHHHHHHh. Someone will think that is a great idea.

 

It's not something you learn quickly. The easiest way to do it is to focus on one or two series for a while and really really learn to grade them. It's like a riding a bike, once you get it you don't really forget. Once you feel that you have mastered a particular series then move on to another one. Learning a new series gets easier once you get a few under your belt as well. The references mentioned are good for basic grading. Once you master the circulated grades move on to mint state which is learned by examining lots and lots of graded examples of the piece that you are studying.

 

You learn to grade by reading the books on each denomination and notice were the focal points are as well as the high points of the coin and were the coin will wear first


The major think to remember this is a science grading ,the more you grade coins the better you will be at it it;s not an easy think to do . the more you practice the art of grading like i said the more you will achieve your goals in this area of collecting.



When a person studies an instrument the more you practice at it the better you will get coin grading is a challenge just like other thinks are.


The only problem with grading coins ever body has a different perspective on the way they grade a coin that's the problem in this area of coin collecting a big problem especially with the grading companys. I prefere to grade my own coins.

 

I'll echo Carl's sentiments..... growing up in the 60's and learning to grade from early Red Books. When I returned in earnest to the hobby in the late 90's boy was I in for a shock. MS-65? MS-60? What the hey? Used to be Brilliant Unc.
The ANA Grading Standards book has been very helpful to me along with the knowledgeable folks on this forum.... I love it when someone posts a coin asking opinions on grade and I can take a stab at what the coin was graded by a TPGer....especially when I can get in early on the grading and not be influenced by other posters opinions.

 

If you have not already, join Heritage. It is free and worth every penny of it.

Look into their archive of sold coins - lots of pix.

Pick a coin you want to grade and compare it to similar Heritage coins until you can figure out that it is better than x, y, etc. and worse than a, b, etc. Keep that up until you have an idea where the coins fall.

 

Each individual series is unique in it's own way. I think many beginners, including myself at first, thought that everything could be compared as the same when grading. Like it was some universal judgement. But each series has it's own unique design, high points, wear characteristics and sometimes weakness of strike.

For example, most Peace dollars have a very weakly struck reverse. Most new people to the hobby would probably think it was wear. But you still have to identify wear on the weakly struck reverse! I can't say that I can very well myself. Then, some years are better or worse than others within that series as far as strike is concerend. Unless you specialize in that series, most people probably can't grade Peace dollars very well on their own without consulting a book.

Sometimes grades are adjusted simply over where the coin was produced and what year. The Philadelphia mint has always been the premium, you could say the mother mint to the branch mints. The branch mints had to get dies from Philly in the old days which was a time consuming process. And when they finally were produced, they only were sent what was needed. Usually not much for extras.

So many of the branch mints ended up using some very rough dies (that were affected by higher humidity in the south which lead to some rusting) to produce some series towards the end. Most of them couldn't de-commission dies very easily because there weren't back ups to replace the worn ones with. While Philadelphia could pretty much get new ones whenever they wanted because they produced them.

Buffalo nickels are strongly gaged by how pronounced the cheek bone is on the obverse and how well defined the horn and tail remains on the reverse. Next, you look at what, if any luster remains. Original luster plays a big roll once you get past EF on most stuff.

The ANA 6th edition has helped me out quite a bit, in addition to simply looking at so many of some series. I feel I could do halfway decent grading Morgans up to MS65 now just from how many slabbed ones I've viewed or own. I've only been back at this for a year but have focused my time pretty heavily on the hobby and reading.
After a while you get to know what's acceptable as the grades go up. There's a lot to learn, I can tell you that.

 

Dr. William Sheldon developed it based on the value of the 1794 large cent. A 1794 in the lowest collectable condition was worth $1 at the time and was considered the basal value. He noticed that a coin in G was going for about $4 and so on. The ANA based its scale on this as it was already accepted and being used (for at least one type of coin) in the coin market. Plus, could you imagine a 100 point scale? TPG already have a hard enough time giving a coin the same grade upon resubmission. Why add 30 more levels to add to the confusion?

I learned how to grade at grade school. Hahhahha J/K I'm still learning.

 

There were many steps,

First read books like the ANA grading standards
Then you start by assessing wear on high points
Then you learn to mix in quality of fields, how much luster is left, quantity of hairlines, number of hits, size of hits etc...

It's one long progression that can only be learned by experience and looking at hundreds if not thousands of examples.

In addition there are things like strike etc... where some standards take a series with typical weak strike and grade them differently.

Oh and lastly ANA usually puts on a class for grading and authentication that is worth every penny, um I mean Cent.

A good place to start is download a .pdf file from Rick Snow's website that explains the basics of grading Indian Head Cents.

 

I'm still learning!

 

As many have noted, I first used the descriptions and pictures in the Red Book in the late '50's and into the 60's. Added the ANA Grading Standards book (4th Edition, yea it's old). Even with the internet sites that are available I continue to pick up books on specific series that I am interested in.

It is an ongoing process, and yes I have seen "Grade Creep" over the years. Still, the best indicator of a coin's grade seems to be it's price.

Love the quote "I grade it at $500"

 

I've enjoyed the "Making the Grade" book that I recently picked up. It seems to have a uniqueness to it that at least I hadn't seen in a single other book. http://www.amazon.com/Making-Grade-...5554/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1250198798&sr=8-1

It has color photos of 50 commonly collected coins, shows their high points where wear would first be seen, and a color coded map on the coin to show where marks affect value more and less relatively.

Of course I don't know anything, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

 

So true....I should have added that to my reply....

 

Everyone is still learning, heh. I remember in my authentication, conservation and grading seminiar I took at the ANA phoenix show, the guy next to me showed Brian a coin, I believe it was MS65. He said it was MS67, a 2 point different. Brian worked at NCS for awhile, before he became a grader for NGC and an authenticator. He trained the secret service..I think he was better at authentication than anything. He could immediately look at a coin and tell me where the depressions, spikes, etc are, even if they were real faint. He was REAL good at this.

It's really all subjective. I bought a raw $5 indian at a reputable shop in las vegas called "Sahara coins", before it went down hill. There was a former PCGS grader there who graded it AU55. This was back when they had good deals and not overpriced junk. Well I sent it into PCGS, and it graded with no problems AU58. Before that it was in an old style ANACS holder AU58.

Personally, I have always studied authentication , not grading. I know the different grades, but my grading skills are zero, zilch, none. My dream job would be to someday work in a coin shop, but without years of grading experience that is a hard thing to do. I have the PCGS guide to grading and counterfeit detection and I think I'm going to study it.

 

I learned the old fashion way. I made mistakes , more mistakes and still more mistakes. P.S. I'm still learning !!