Grading Poll

Intreasting wheatie,lamination-strike through.

 

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Funny

 

Name one thing you've learned.

 

In this thread, how very pronounced the difference in detail can be between the eagle's wing and head/chest/shield due to a weak strike. I'd seen weak strikes before, but not one with this much contrast.

 

Now we just need you to follow Socrates around and offer a summary of what the heck he's babbling on about.

 

Looks like VF35 to me

 

Maybe you've been banned for good reason.

I find your "method" of teaching to be leaving a lot to be desired. It doesn't help that you belittle people when they ask questions. This ain't boot camp, Jack!

 

Maybe...but you will also find that the PCGS and NGC forums have a brand they need to protect and don't take kindly to those who say bad things about their products. There is a lot of negative comments here about the TPGs that would not be tolerated there.

If you don't like his methods...why not just not post in this threads. There are a couple members here (not you) who I just don't respond to. I just don't care to interact with them.

 

You could start your own - call it "The Insider track"

 

For ten years, I saw people come on the NGC forums and blast everyone from the president of the company on down to the graders, and I NEVER saw any of them banned for their opinions. Bad language....yes....but not opinions.

 

No one talked down to you. You have two fingers and a keyboard. Use them when someone gives you a hint. If that is too difficult, I'll send you the answer ahead of time - but only for you.

While I'm at, Jack. This is a fact: I am a 95% self-educated numismatist. The other 5% came from some knowledgeable folks. A microscope at ANACS speeded up the process. I started in a time of real ignorance and misinformation. There was no class, no Internet, and no TPGS to learn from so please pardon me for believing ANYONE with the desire and half a brain has it EXTREMELY EASY today to surpass my status in this hobby without being "spoon fed!"

As for being banned, Jack! I was lucky to be allowed to post on a competitor's forum in the first place. I crossed their line. Fortunately I don't miss posting on their forums at all. One is dead and I can still read the great jokes on the other. I consider my absence to be a loss for their member's and a benefit for myself.

 

If you want to discuss strike issues, here is a well-known example. For those you know the Classic Head $2.50 series well I apologize because this one is well-known to the specialists.



I bought this 1836 Classic Head $2.50 gold from the late Catherine Bullowa in 1971. She graded it AU, but at the time I bought the piece she commented that "It might Uncirculated, I'm not sure."

Many years later I had PCGS grade it. They called it an MS-62. I agree with them, especially when I see some of what they are calling MS-62 these days. The is softly struck in the center of the obverse primarily because the die is broken. If you look to the left of the sixth star, you will see a raised line, which is a die break. The crack runs down into the left of the "L" in "LIBERTY" and into the hair. It disappears there probably because the metal could not flow that high when the coin was struck. There is also some weakness on the left side of shield on the reverse. That area is opposite the weak spot in the hair.

The other issue was with the dies that were used to strike these coins. Although the 1834 to 1839 quarter eagles are called "Classic Heads," there are many different takes on Ms. Liberty within the series. This 1834 coin has the Classic Head, but it's not the exact same head. The problem was William Kneass and Christian Gobrecht, who succeeded him, could not seem to get this design right so that it struck up well. They kept tinkering with it.

 

Everyone in my generation and before was self-trained. I learned to grade first from the old Brown and Dunn books, Phototgrade and the school of hard knocks. Sometimes getting hosed is the best teacher. I try to warn people here, but you know what they say about taking horses to water. They get to decide if they want to drink or not.

 

I'm not a member of the NGC forum so I don't know about them...but I have seen it at Collector's Universe.

 

In that case, you shouldn't have mentioned NGC.

 

That's true.

But my point still stands. If you don't like his threads than why post in them.

 

I agree. The NGC management seems to be pretty tolerant. The trouble is their forum is on the dull side and hard to follow. Some of the changes they made were not for the better IMO.

I cut back there when they stopped taking PCGS coins in their U.S. coin registry. Now that they reversed that policy, I should go back more, but I haven't so far.

 

What do you think you're doing right now!

 

Quite a while ago, it appeared that he was just ignoring me because I said something he didn't like. That continued for the longest time. Then, he started responding to my comments. So, I thought he had changed (or reconsidered). It appears that I was wrong. He can still be the same nasty person when he wants to be.

 

Beefer518, posted: "You could start your own - call it "The Insider track"

Something may be in the works. I think that each TPGS should have an Internet forum.

johnmilton, posted: "If you want to discuss strike issues, here is a well-known example. For those you know the Classic Head $2.50 series well I apologize because this one is well-known to the specialists.

View attachment 1306665

I bought this 1836 Classic Head $2.50 gold from the late Catherine Bullowa in 1971. She graded it AU [because it is ], but at the time I bought the piece she commented that "It might Uncirculated, I'm not sure."

Mrs. Bullowa was a shrewd and reputable dealer. She knew that coin was a weakly struck AU in 1971! It is a very nice example. It would have been graded AU-58 if sent to either of the first two TPGS in the 1980's. I'll bet PCGS would have also graded it AU when they first started grading in 1986. Today, it is "rightfully" considered to be MS because standards changed and its value has increased.