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Message:: [QUOTE="Lehigh96, post: 2296429, member: 15309"]It that narrow example of using one photo from a book, you are right.  But if you want to compare photographic examples within a grade or across different grades for a TPG, all you have to do is go to Heritage's auction archives and start studying.  Add real coins into the mix and some time, it is not hard to build grading proficiency.  You act as though this is rocket science Doug, it just isn't that damn hard.  Furthermore, everybody with a true interest in grading learns the written grading standards first.  My guess is that most professional graders were coin dealers or advanced collectors before they became graders and had a wealth of experience dealing with many coins in many different grades across many series.  So no, I don't think professional graders learned how to grade from pictures. That said, I see people all the time across every forum give their opinion on the grade of a coin based solely on a photograph.  This includes former professional graders like Mark Feld and many other expert level grading collectors.  For a more expensive coin, they might give you a disclaimer that their opinion might change with an in hand inspection.  But for something like a common date Morgan Dollar that is very easy to grade, they are just going to give their opinion of the grade and stand by it.[/QUOTE]