Can anyone explain how to best grade Washington Quarters?

No, not at all. I usually refrain from posting in the guess the grade threads because it seems that too many people do not want to hear what I have to say because the vast majority of the time I'm going to disagree with the TPG. And when I do, then others want to argue about it. And it's simpler to just avoid that.

No, I have never said that, and I wouldn't say that - because I grade coins for folks based on pics pretty much every day. And I have bene doing that for as long as I can remember. And even more than that, I teach others how to do it as well. That said, I may have said a few times that I could not or would not try to grade based on a given picture, specific picture, because of the picture itself. But those are exceptions, not the rule.

And I have said that grading in hand is by far the best because pictures sometimes don't show you what you need to see. But when a picture does show you something, and wear is a good example, you simply can't say it isn't there because it is there.

Well, kinda, but disgusted would be far more accurate. I think it is a downright shame that the TPGs have loosened their grading standards to the point that their grades are a joke. They over-grade just about everything in today's world, and often grossly over-grade. And they have been doing this for many years now, far too many years. Especially and particularly when it comes to grading coins with obvious wear as being MS. By definition, coins with wear cannot be graded as MS or uncirculated. But they do it anyway hundreds of times a day - every day !

 

I readily admit I did say that. But that's definitely not the same thing as saying I would not try to grade coins based on pictures ! The reason I said I wouldn't participate in guess the grade threads anymore is what I explained above. It didn't have anything at all to do with pictures being used !

(edited to add the word pictures above which I missed)

 

Personally, I find videos worse than worthless when trying to estimate the grade of a coin. And besides, I provided my estimate of grade on page 1 of this thread -

 

I did watch it - and before I posted my last comments. And yeah, the coin clearly shows luster, but almost all AU coins show luster. And the pictures you posted of the coin clearly show wear in a few places which make it an AU coin - not an MS coin.

 

Here's a coin I'm excited about. Nice and original, with few meaningful marks, but not sure what to expect from the TPGs. Luster is complete in the darker areas.