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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;physics-fan3.14, post: 13281152, member: 19165&quot;]Contrary to popular belief, if you understand the principles of grading a coin, you can grade literally any coin without having seen it before. It might even be unique! Let&#039;s walk through the key areas: </p><p><br /></p><p>Strike: The strike of a coin is self-evident. Are the features flattened? Are the faces full? Do all of the details present crisply, or are they weak? Strike is a fairly minor component of grading these days. </p><p><br /></p><p>Luster: Again, just look at the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>Eye appeal: Good toning is good toning, and it doesn&#039;t matter what coin it&#039;s on. An attractive patina will have the same general feel. </p><p><br /></p><p>Contact marks: The severity of contact marks is often weighted based on the focal areas. A mark on Morgan&#039;s cheek is more imporant than one in her hair. If you are familiar with art composition, and aware of the item you&#039;re looking at, you can identify pretty easily where your eyes are first drawn. This particular example is challenging because it is such a busy design, and the reverse is literally just a large block of text... but you can still notice contact marks, and this is often a primary grade driver. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now, a lot of modern grading is comparative, as you allude to. This VF is slightly better than that VF, so it must be a 25? But, really, grading is just appraising the surfaces of any coin by a set of judgments... strike, luster, eye appeal, and contact marks. If you understand those criteria, you can grade any coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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