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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 5128024, member: 105571&quot;]A contemporary thread on CT Coin Chat forum regarding the AU-MS divide prompted this post of a thought and question that has been floating around in my mind for some time.&nbsp; I am posting in the US Coins forum since it applies exclusively to those and also because I know less than nothing about World and Ancient coins.&nbsp; I apologize for the length of this post and hope it possesses enough of interest to reward the persevering reader.</p><p><br /></p><p>The topic is why do we bother to retain the English language grade descriptions when they are completely anachronistic and do not seem to perform any function other than to respect tradition.&nbsp; I give them no regard whatsoever.&nbsp; When I am talking about a coin, I will use terminology like “it’s a 45 coin”.&nbsp; I never call it an “Extremely Fine” since that is already embedded in the number “45” whereas the distinction between a 40 and 45 coin is not embedded in the description “Extremely Fine”.&nbsp; This situation is even more pronounced in the Very Fine and About Uncirculated grades.&nbsp; You can see this in the grading tables presented below.</p><p><br /></p><p>In addition to the inefficiency of having to say and write two different grading designations, there is the question of why there is a two grade and 10 point spread for Extremely Fine but four grades and a 20 point spread for Very Fine.&nbsp; The only reason I can devise for this is that is what it took to make Sheldon’s numeracy work and he felt the need to respect traditional grading nomenclature.</p><p><br /></p><p>So why do we persist now in still using the old descriptors?&nbsp; Anybody care to illuminate this?</p><p><br /></p><p><u>Grading Scales and Spreads</u></p><p><br /></p><p>We all know the 1-70 Sheldon Scale was developed so that Dr. Sheldon could warp the result of his arithmetic to result in the market value of large cents in their various conditions.&nbsp;&nbsp; When he did this, he retained the previous English language designations for coin condition that he then correlated with his 1-70 number scale.&nbsp; I have reproduced his scale next to the current ANA/PCGS/NGC values and English descriptors for the range of Good 04 through About Uncirculated 58.</p><p><br /></p><p><u>Sheldon</u>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <u>ANA/PCGS/NGC</u></p><p><br /></p><p>Good 4&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Good 4</p><p><br /></p><p>Good 5</p><p><br /></p><p>Good 6&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Good 6</p><p><br /></p><p>Very Good 7</p><p><br /></p><p>Very Good 8&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Very Good 8</p><p><br /></p><p>Very Good 10&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Very Good 10</p><p><br /></p><p>Fine 12&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Fine 12</p><p><br /></p><p>Fine 15&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Fine 15</p><p><br /></p><p>Very Fine 20&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Very Fine 20</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Very Fine 25</p><p><br /></p><p>Very Fine 30&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Very Fine 30</p><p><br /></p><p>Very Fine 35</p><p><br /></p><p>Extremely Fine 40&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Extremely Fine 40</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Extremely Fine 45</p><p><br /></p><p>About Uncirculated 50&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; About Uncirculated 50</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; About Uncirculated 53</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; About Uncirculated 55</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; About Uncirculated 58</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Looking only at the current ANA/PCGS/NGC scale, it becomes immediately apparent that there is a large disparity between the number ranges of the various English language grades, i.e.:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>For Good, two grades and a four point spread (8 minus 4).</p><p><br /></p><p>For Very Good, two grades and a four point spread (12 minus 8).</p><p><br /></p><p>For Fine, two grades and an eight point spread (20 minus 12).</p><p><br /></p><p>For Very Fine, four grades and a twenty point spread (40 minus 20).</p><p><br /></p><p>For Extremely Fine, two grades and a ten point spread (50 minus 40).</p><p><br /></p><p>For About Uncirculated, four grades and a ten point spread (60 minus 50).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I calculate the spread as I have because a coin that is almost a Fine 12 will be graded as a Very Good 10 but the spread for the Very Good grade is still from just below 12 down to 8.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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