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Message:: [QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 2298932, member: 112"]Why is wear singled out ? Quite simple, because the very definition of an uncirculated coin is - a coin that has no wear. That simple definition is the very foundation of coin grading. And it has been with us far, far longer than any grading standards. In effect, at one time (well over 100 years ago) it was the only grading standard. Which is precisely what you were talking about in the rest of your post. The first serious, and organized discussions among numismatists to establish grading standards beyond that simple standard started in the 1890's. It was that long ago that numismatists recognized that circulated and uncirculated simply wasn't enough to even begin being able to accurately describe the condition of a coin. That's what grading is, the ability to describe the condition, the state of preservation, of a coin. At first it was done with words, and then in 1948, Sheldon came up with the concept of doing it with numbers. Subsequent numismatists took that system, that was only intended to ever be used with large cents, and adapted it, changed it, and used it for all coins. Now that very simple, but clear and precise, definition of uncirculated coin that I quoted at the beginning of this post, that definition remained unchanged, even for the TPGs, until recent years. It was only then that they changed things, and for specific reasons. Reasons that have nothing to do with accurate grading by the way.[/QUOTE]