Best "guide" for grading coins

For circulated coins I find the best to be an oldie but a goodie-"Photograde" by James Ruddy first published in 1970. It's somewhat stricter than modern standards but I still think it's tops.

 

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It's the only written grading guide I own, although out of respect for physics-fan's clear skills I'm going to acquire and peruse his book. Only a fool thinks they're done learning.

In the book I write - if I ever write it - eye appeal will only ever add the half-grade "+" to a grade, or cost it a grade point. That's just how I see it; if the technical merit is that of a 65 I cannot call it a 66. It's that simple.

 

I cannot wait to see your grading book. I did a whole lot of productive writing during the two weeks I was banned from CT mainly because I had one less forum to post on!

Time passes really fast at our age. Perhaps you should think about this: If you spend less time posting your opinions here and put them to paper, we'll all benefit much sooner from your insight. That's what I started to do and IT WORKS!

 

Oh, it wouldn't be a "grading book." More an extended diatribe - I'm an essayist by inclination - against what I don't like about numismatics.

Adding grades for eye appeal is high on that list.

 

I've read many times on CT that you are going to write something one day. Here is a challenge for you:

Coin World and Numismatic News have a half page for Viewpoints and Commentary. I know for a fact that the Editors always need people to fill these pages. Based on my experience reading some of your posts, I can guarantee you will be published. Why not sit down and write something tonight. Then, after you submit a short essay about what you don't like in numismatics, grading, or what you like etc., it will generate letters to the Editor - another thing the Editors like.

Let all of us know when you send something in so we can watch for it!

PS "Adding grades for eye-appeal" sounds like a good subject. I'll bet you have already posted enough words on that subject in this forum that the essay has already been written - just needs to be condensed and submitted.

I'll be waiting...

 

Challenge accepted. It may wait until my next days off - five days hence; I cannot write haphazardly - but it's never honestly occurred to me to try that. It will be done before I go to the Baltimore show Saturday.

 

I honestly don't know if this is sincere or sarcasm....

One of the hardest choices I had to make when publishing my book (and the one which I have received the most criticism for) was the choice to print my book in black-and-white instead of color. The toning and eye appeal, and many of the subtleties in shade and texture, are lost when converting to b/w. I spent many hours ensuring the photos (attempted to) convey the message I wanted. In the end, the choice came down to cost - a color printing would have been much more, and I felt the price had to stay under $20 to be a good value. I really wanted color images, but the cost would have just been too great.

 

Great! I'll bet you write more than one...It's addicting.

 

IMO, the poster was sincere and I took his comment (although a bit rough) as factual. You say yourself you have heard the same thing before from others.

Most people do not have a clue what it takes to write, edit, and publish a book. Those who do, know your reply is 100% correct. I got hate mail recently for blasting one "Authoritative Guide." The author contacted me and we had a good discussion. No hard feelings as everything I posted about the book was factual. I'm buying his next guide which has just been published and promises to be very good.

PS Amazon said my copy of your book is due in my mailbox tomorrow!

 

It was completely sincere. You don't realize it - your viewpoint is on the wrong side of your work (the inside) to see, but it could not be more plain that you are among the more capable and committed numismatists in a place crawling with capable and committed numismatists. I value your posts in the highest echelon of stuff I need to pay attention to.

On the subject of your priorities with regard to printing, they only dovetail with my own views of grading as a strictly technical operation subject to only minor modification by the intangibles of color ane eye appeal. You could not - you could not have afforded - to present a work with truly "adequate" images, be they B/W or full process color, without doubling the size of the work and accompanying cost.

If you cannot explain grading with words, you're explaining too hard.

I admire you as a numismatist, physics-fan.

 

And the book ain't half bad either........got it in 'print' and on my Kindle........

 

Well sir, that is one of the finest compliments I've received in a long time. Thank you, @SuperDave

 

Try this one: You sure are a good looking dude too!

 

Would B&W with a section of color plates be an option? Few things irk me more when reading a coin book as when they talk about toning, but then show you the coin in B&W!

I haven't bought your book yet, but I routinely spend way more than $20 on numismatic books. I think you can stretch the price to $30-35 or more and still have a viable market.

 

No they're not, and no it wouldn't.

A 300 dpi high-res image (minimum desired resolution for printing) can be scaled down to fit whatever space you want to fit it in — a full page or a 1-inch square, or anything in between — but that doesn't change the resolution; it's still a "high-res" image.

Edit: the number of colors, not the resolution of the images, is the primary driver of printing cost.

 

So . . . Skynet?

 

Probably so BUT I'LL BE DEAD. I'll bet we'll have virtually undetectable counterfeits long before AI grading. We are almost there now!

 

We already have virtually undetectable counterfeits. These were only noticed because PCGS did a die study on them.

 

Good point. For a while, ALL excellent, "new" counterfeits go undetected. Nevertheless, AFAIK, since 1975, you can count on 1-2 fingers how many types of U.S. counterfeits (excluding ancients and many foreign coins) have gone undetected for very long.

If you are referring to the Micro "O" counterfeits on one of those fingers, I have read on several occasions that they were detected around 1993 (almost a century after they entered commerce - but only twenty years after TPGS's were established) by at least one professional authenticator long before the PCGS study. Thankfully, that study and research by several silver dollar specialists unmasked a larger number of these fakes and die marriages.

SO, YOU ARE CORRECT. I was trying not to alarm folks or split hairs with the above statement that I stand by. I chose to use the word "virtually." Once a new counterfeit is detected that has been accepted as genuine in the market it becomes a "virtually undetectable counterfeit." That's what is going on now. The TPGS's and specialists ARE detecting many previous "virtually undetectable" fakes - especially in the 1/2 Cent and Large Cent series. As I wrote somewhere (?) before - it is taking months to do this rather than years! So, IMO, we are still not quite at the point of "undetectable" counterfeits.

 

300dpi, one inch wide, is insufficient to make the point. You need images large enough to be of use, and being generous, 4 images per page (depending on physical page size) is probably the lower limit. Photograde suffers from the same problem.