Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 1660427, member: 68&quot;]Believe it or not few collectors were much concerned with quality of uncirculated coins before 1978.&nbsp; Any collector worth his salt would always grab the better of two examples but the primary interest was in obtaining an example of everything in a given condition.&nbsp; It would be very difficult to get a premium for a Gem so most were simply sold as Uncs.&nbsp; The few exceptions would be in areas where all collectors were pretty sophisticated like bust coinage, but even here nice specimens usually didn&#039;t command significant premiums. There was a sort of unoffoicial split between &quot;unc&quot; which included some pretty bad specimens and &quot;bu&quot; for nice original coins.&nbsp; The demand for high grades started in Morgans in the late-&#039;70&#039;s.&nbsp; Therse were coming onm the market in the tens of millions because of higher silver prices and the big government releases and collectors noticed a huge spread in quality.&nbsp; In 1977 I could buy BU morgans as they came out of the roll for $4 or pick and choose all day at $5.&nbsp; A third gradation of grading uncs emerged around this time and that was &quot;Gem&quot;.&nbsp; It didn&#039;t quite mean the same as MS-65 today but it&#039;s pretty close and included all the higher grades as well.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The influence of the grading companies and especially PCGS can be overestimated in the current grading system. To a large extent they do simply reflect market demand but to some extent they&#039;ve also led this demand.&nbsp; The existence of the net has made it possible to make a&nbsp; market for these coins and it is most unlikely the market will go away.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in