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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1985851, member: 19463&quot;]For those new here:&nbsp; I have a very old set of grading pages that show why I really don&#039;t believe in grading ancients.&nbsp; On it I added two major areas of consideration to the standard letter grades for wear trying to make the point that the two really outrank wear when it comes to the desirability of a coin.&nbsp; First I named Conditions of Manufacture.&nbsp; These are things that went wrong (or right) before the coin left the mint.&nbsp; The second was Conditions of Preservation.&nbsp; This covers what happened to the coin between the mint and today.&nbsp; Each was illustrated by a photo of a coin with that condition.&nbsp; </p><p>Examples from Manufacture:</p><p>Pre-striking flan adjustment marks:</p><p><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/gadjust.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>Off center:</p><p><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/goffc.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>Examples from Preservation:</p><p><br /></p><p>Chippy Patina:</p><p><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/gchippy.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>Pitting:</p><p><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/g71.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>In each case here, these words tell you more about the coin than does the term &#039;Fine&#039;.&nbsp; Not all ancients have severe problems but almost none are completely free of something that would be a footnote if grading a modern issue.&nbsp; I once considered trying to promote a grading number with two digits ranking coins according to the two major areas.&nbsp; The Caligula (last above) might be VF 82 since it was pretty well made when it left the mint but was really wrecked afterward.&nbsp; The Alexander (second from top) might be F 27 since it was a dog when made due to the centering but is not bad in terms of surface and tone for something that old.&nbsp;&nbsp; I decided it would never catch on and dropped the idea.&nbsp; It still would not tell you the difference between a coin compromised by centering and one well centered but weakly struck, for example.</p><p><br /></p><p>Those who want to see these pages can start here and follow the three links:</p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The Impossible to Grade page mentioned by JB Good is here:</p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/impossible.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/impossible.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/impossible.html</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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