Books on Coin Grading Books on Coin Grading ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How to Grade US Coins "Over ten years ago, I felt a burning need to help clarify a controversial topic. So I wrote How to Grade U.S. Coins, which I think helped demystify the process of grading uncirculated and proof coins. It received some acclaim within the numismatic field, although today, as a more seasoned writer, I cringe at the quality of my prose." Coin Grading.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT GRADING TIPS - by Scott Travers "With the advent of independent third-party certification, many coin buyers and sellers thought all their grading worries were over. No longer would they have to scrutinize each coin they bought and sold to determine its level of preservation. No longer would they need to concern themselves with grading pointers, grading tips, grading advice--these mattered now only to the experts at the leading certification services. From now on, all Mint State-65 coins would be created equal, as long as they got those grades from the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America (NGC) or ANACS. In short, buyers and sellers no longer would need to think for themselves and exercise their own common sense. This is not entirely true. " THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT GRADING TIPS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is Grading? "Grading is a way of determining the condition of a given coin. The late Dr. William H. Sheldon devised a grading scale of 1-70, with 1 being a barely identifiable piece and 70 being a flawless specimen. This basic grading scale has been widely used since. All of the third-party grading services that I know of, as well as the American Numismatic Association and virtually every rare coin dealer that I've ever met, have all adopted this grading system." Coin Grading ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Coin Grading Examples - Morgans Grading Examples - Morgans ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Finer Points of Coin Grading "At the American Numismatic Association Convention in Los Angeles in 1975, I had the honor of serving on the first ANA grading committee. Its mission was to establish a grading guide and standard system for the grading of United States coins. The chairman, Abe Kosoff, and about 15 other numismatic experts met for several days, and the final outcome was the establishment of the American Numismatic Association Certification Service. ANACS would hire and train graders to determine if submitted coins were genuine, and assign a grade to each coin based on the long-standing system then in use. That system evolved some 100 years earlier to generally categorize coins by their condition: poor, fair, good, very good, fine, very fine, extra fine, about uncirculated, uncirculated, and brilliant uncirculated." The Finer Points of Coin Grading ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD PARTY GRADING COMPANIES "There are many third party coin grading companies, I will try to give an overview of each of several of the most noted ones here. I have been around coins most of my life and have seen many changes in the grading system. Not that grades themselves have changed, but more grades and adjectives have been added through the years to better describe the condition of a particular coins. No one is perfect and mistakes in grading do happen. Also do not always depend on the grades given the coins by the grading services. Learn to grade coins yourself, ask questions and find a dealer you can trust and learn from. Nothing can replace experience and knowledge. " THIRD PARTY GRADING COMPANIES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grading Guide for Coins "As long-time users of Nostomania know, the value of any coin depends strongly on grade. A specimen in pristine MS-70 condition can sell for over 1000 times the price of a worn-flat item in PR-1. Therefore being able to correctly determine the grade of a coin is an important skill for buyers and sellers alike. Grading coins is an art, and it takes many years of practice to become an accomplished grader." Grading Guide for Coins ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HOW DO GRADING SERVICES RATE? - PNG Grading Survey Results 2002 "Responding to hobby concerns about perceived wide variances in the grading standards between different rare coin certification services, the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) and the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA) asked their members for their professional opinions.[/b] HOW DO GRADING SERVICES RATE? 2002 HOW DO GRADING SERVICES RATE? 2004 The following is a link to my personal response to the PNG regarding their 2002 survey. GDJMSP's response to PNG Grading Survey --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Grading - Australian Coins "A great deal of subjectivity surrounds the 'art' of establishing a coin's grade or condition. Invariably, the seller will err on the higher side while the buyer will find any number of blemishes, hairlines or weak spots to lower the grade. To bring some degree of 'science' or objectivity to this process, standard classifications and descriptions have been established. The following table sets out the equivalences between various grading scales used throughout the world in assessing the state of preservation of a coin or medal. Their meanings, along with common derivative grading terms, are explained in the next section." Grading Australian Coins link 1 Grading Australian Coins - link 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grading Canadian Coins "Coins are usually described by their country of origin, type, denomination, date, mint mark, variety and condition. With all but the last of these, there is rarely any ambiguity. However, with their state of preservation or condition, there often are differing opinions, so a standard system of grading coins has evolved which allows us to more clearly determine and communicate their relative quality. Coins meant for use in daily commerce are referred to as "Business Strikes" and are generally mass-produced. In addition, Canada and other countries produce special pieces for official presentation or for collectors. These "Specimens", "Proofs" and "Proof-Likes" are usually carefully produced from specially prepared dies, and are given special handling and packaging. These pieces are quite noticeably different in quality from business strikes, and are classified and collected separately from them." Grading Canadian Coins ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- British Coin Grading "This page deals just with the grading of Modern coins. (i.e coins 'milled' to a good standard) When British coins are concerned 'Modern' is usually considered to be after 1790 (The latter half of George III Reign). Please be aware that the guide refers to the British Grading System. Just to confuse things, many countries have their own names in their own languages for the various grades and these are listed in the chart here: ......" British Coin Grading ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Grading Changes, Pricing Irregularities: "We are all custodians of our collections for but a limited time. It may be for the whole of our lifetime, but at some point in time, the collection is disposed of, either by us or by our heirs. Even the great collections, such as John Work Garrett, or Byron Reed, which went into a museum collection, presumably for perpetuity, ultimately return to the marketplace. Whenever the disposition of a collection transpires, and increasingly, before that point in time, the collection is typically evaluated. That usually brings to the forefront the issue of several items being other than what the owner thought they were -- either by reason of grade, price, or authenticity. " What is a Collector (or an Investor) to Do? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some grading tips from one of the best Learning to Grade - by John Maben "Learning to grade coins is an essential skill for any collector. A coin's value is heavily dependent upon its grade. For some coins, a difference in one or two grade points can represent a difference in values of hundreds, even thousands of dollars. While learning to grade can take years and is best honed by looking at hundreds and thousands of coins, there are things any collector can do to improve his or her grading skills. This week, we begin a multi-part series on ways you can sharpen you grading skills." Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Color Makes a Difference "Just how much original color still remains on a United States copper coin – specifically, half cents, large cents, small cents and 2-cent coins – plays an important part in a coin's grade and its ultimate value." "U.S. copper coins, regardless of whether they are graded and encapsulated by a third-party grading service or are "raw," often have a superlative after the grade that addresses the coin's color: "red," "red and brown" and "brown." Any one of these adjectival attributions reflects the general amount of the original Mint red color remaining on a coin and whether any brown toning is visible." "A coin classified as "red" has all or virtually all of the original red, meaning it features no toning; some red remains on a "red-brown" coin, meaning the coin has partially toned to brown; a coin classified as "brown" is one that has completely toned to a natural brown." Color Makes a Difference ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
