Do you wonder if some of those might straight grade in today's market? I'm pulling out all the coins I have that came back in body bags for a fresh look. I feel that standards have changed a bit and some may straight grade.
They loosened, alright. As only a general proposition the reason is that we're well into market grading, now, while back then there were still quite a few of us who not only remembered how to technical or condition grade but insisted on it being given a high level respect in the overall grade. It's due to that transition. Today, eye appeal is more important than technical condition. Or so methinks, the way these TPGs grade.
I don't generally buy too many raw coins, and I avoid potential problem coins like the plague. If a raw coin arrives and it has problems that I didn't see in the photographs, I almost always return it. So, no, I can't say that I really spend much time looking back at coins that wouldn't grade.... That's just not my personal buying style.
When I had my collection graded during the 1999 to 2001 period, the coins that got body bagged most often were my early copper pieces. I sold a few of them, and years later I saw that a couple of them now get straight grades. At least now you get a "details holders" that says the coin is real. Back in body bag days, you got nothing for your money. As for coins that graded then, but might not grade now, here's one. It might get tagged for cleaning today. It's in a PCGS EF-45 holder.
I don't know about all that... but I do know that Lot's wife got turned into a pillar of Salt. This is she, taken from the window of our bus as we drove past her. Unfortunate soul.
