does anyone here know of a book or publication or website that would be of assistance to someone like me who is fairly new to coin collecting (2 years) and looking to beef up his grading skills......I can do a reasonable job of grading to a point but on a coin would i honestly be confident that I could tell a ms61 from a ms64 with 90 percent accuracy.....no....and i would love to be able to say that i could.....any suggestions besides practice, practice, practice?
Hey my man, I'd recommend these: Making the Grade Photograde (by James F. Ruddy) Grading Coins by photographs (can be found at bookstore such as Barron's) Hope this helps.
Oh, suggestions, YOU NEED to talk to Physics-Fan3.14!!!! I L@@@@@VE PHYSICS, He is always willing to answer grading questions if you are willing to learn, in fact, I'll ask him if I can PM you his email address so you can talk to him. As I have said he is a good, man and I love that Guy. He has taught me a lot about grading. :heart:
Books are a help, but like you said OP practice practice practice. MS is a little harder, I would go to Heritage and try to look at photos without seeing the assigned grade and then grade them yourself. It really is a function of seeing thousands of coins. The good part, though, is once you learn it you have it forever. I haven't bought a BU US coin in over a decade, but am usually close on guessing the grade here on CT.
Like medoraman mentioned, MS is where it gets tricky. There are plenty of photo-grade books that are great for all grades up to MS60. PCGS photograde is nice to compare all the grades up to MS70. Although it doesn't give a description or anything about why it has a particular grade, it is somewhat helpful. At the very least, it's enjoyable to look at. http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/
I just picked up Grading Coins by Photograph and it is pretty good. PCGS Photograde is good for quick reference but it doesn't teach you how to grade. And grading coins by an online picture is very different than in hand.
These are the best 2 books on grading that there are - http://www.amazon.com/Official-American-Numismatic-Association-Standards/dp/0794819931 http://www.coinsupplyexpress.com/9780375720505-House-of-Collectibles-sku-31208.aspx You can also read this book - http://www.coingrading.com/ - the entire book is published there on that web site and it is free. I also recommend this book - http://www.coinworld.com/dealers/am...to-the-top-50-most-widely-collected-us-coins/ That said, you would be well advised to read and study any and every book you can on grading. But in my opinion, those 4 will do you more good than any of the others to learn how to grade. Some of the specialized books are extremely good, but they are only for learning how to grade 1 specific series of coin.
