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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1158630, member: 19463&quot;]Here is the problem with grading ancient coins:&nbsp; Wear is just one factor of a grade.&nbsp; On modern coins, the assumption is made that wear is the factor on which grade is based until you get into MS when it is replaced by strike quality.&nbsp; On ancients, wear, strike and surface issues are all combined.&nbsp; Were your coin modern, it would be considered ungradable due to corrosion and improper cleaning.&nbsp; Almost no ancients legitimately earn the EF grade simple because it not only means next to no wear but that the coin was well struck and has a good looking, even surface.&nbsp; That means there are coins with more wear than yours that are better looking because of the other features.&nbsp; Most people assign grades according to eye appeal and many of us old conservative types believe that the proper grade is the lowest factor of the three I mentioned.&nbsp; I believe modern slabbers sometimes use this on early US coins that do not qualify for full fledged grading when they say a coin has &#039;VF details&#039;.&nbsp; I&#039;d say your coin has VF details but there is no way I would trade my onlt Fine example for it because of the corrosion and roughness I see.&nbsp; However, there are probably others out there that would rather have your coin with better hair details.&nbsp; To each his own.&nbsp; I sincerely believe that ancient coins should not be graded using modern terms simply because it causes more confusion than it is worth.&nbsp; I always believed it would be nice if we had a universally acceptable set of grading standards but am convinced that it is never going to happen.&nbsp; Grading coins is hard enough when you have to apply a single fine distinction but becomes terribly more a problem when you have to decide how much wear offsets how much surface roughness and how much of a less than perfect strike.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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