Hi, As I am going thru my older US coins to learn and determine grades - it dawned on me that I have been looking at 20 and 30 year old coin books, guides, catalogs and dictionaries. While I realize any values associated with the various grades will be different / upgraded, but… How do the "Redbook" - 34th ed / 1981 coin attribute grading cues compare to the latest - 2009? An example or two from that now almost 30 yr. old book might help: Pg. 94 - Buffalo / Indian Nickel: VG-8 Very Good - Half horn shows F-12 Fine - Three-quarter of horn shows. OBV rim intact. Pg. 141 - Liberty Walking Half Dollar: F-12 Fine - All skirt lines evident, but worn in spots. Details in sandal below motto are clear. VF-20 Very Fine - Skirt lines sharp including leg area. Little wear on breast and rt. arm. Are there newer Guide Books ( or even older ones ) available for perusal online? Did these descriptions stay the same? Thanks in advance, Mike
No idea about 2009, but p.109 of the 2003 edition is identical. The only difference on p.169 of the 2003 book is that "rt. arm" is spelled out as "right arm".
Well, that answered that real easy - thanks :bow: Google books may be able to help on the online guides and such. Good eye on the "rt. arm" - I agonized whether to spell it out - LOL. Mike
I also was going by the guidebook, in my case it was the 65 version, but enough people pointed out to me the new standards, especially when it comes to mint state coins that I bought a new guidebook, which makes use of many photos to grade coins with, in spite of that I still find myself undergrading coins, except when I go to sell them... then they seem to be more accurate.
Seems it always happens, but never forget to make use of what's right in front of your face. Try looking here - Numismatic Resources In that section you'll find stuff like this - Coin Grading Plus a whole lot more. Of course you do have to take the time to look around a bit And by the way, grading standards HAVE changed over the years. So it is important to use the newer books. But my advice has always been to use ALL the books, old and new, in order to understand the grading process.
