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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Insider, post: 2477202, member: 24314&quot;]<span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">As usual...you have made many great points to explain designations. As usual, I&#039;ll insert some remarks:</span></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;GDJMSP wrote: &quot;I think the first part of your comment is how the special designations came to be in the first place, back before the NGC and PCGS even existed. But once they did exist - after that, it was just a gimmick. And a meaningless gimmick at that. <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Designations are not a gimmick!&nbsp; They are a result of more knowledge and attempt to further divide the quality of the coins we collect.&nbsp; When you and I were collecting I did not hear of/know about/think about/or know anyone who even cared if a BU dime had bands or not.&nbsp; Same for all the other designations.&nbsp; BU DMPL dollars could be purchased for the same price as unc&#039;c.&nbsp; The only qualifier regularly used was for copper color - BECAUSE those collectors were more advanced than the rest of us and Sheldon included color in grading.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">All collectibles evolve searching for perfection, coins are no exception. You want finicky, stamp collectors worry about the back side of a stamp that cannot even be seen when mounted.&nbsp; Humm, similar to a rim file, edge damage, and edge corrosion that cannot be seen in a typical slab.&nbsp; </span></p><p><br /></p><p>Think about it. What is it, exactly, that the special designations are supposed to mean? They are supposed to define the quality of strike of the coin in order to set apart exemplary coins - special coins - that are at the least well if not very well struck. <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Yes, I guess most are related to strike.&nbsp; That&#039;s why the Technical Grading System did not regard strike as anything detractive that happened to the coin after it was struck.&nbsp; Fully struck and flatly struck mark free original Mint State coins are both PERFECT as made.</span></p><p><br /></p><p>Quality of strike is one of the criteria that is supposed to be used, but is usually ignored by the TPGs, in grading. And there are 4 basic categories covering quality of strike - weak strike, average strike, good strike (sometimes referred to as well struck) and full strike. And if you read actual grading standards quality of strike is a limiting factor, but again it is usually ignored by the TPGs. For example, according to the standards a coin cannot be graded MS65 unless that coin is, at the least, well struck, meaning it can grade no higher than 64. Or, a coin cannot be graded MS67, (and in some cases 66), unless it is fully struck. <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">The old criteria limiting a coin not fully struck to MS-64 has been slowly being changed by the TPGS&#039;s.&nbsp; In fact, when you examine grading as it is practiced today by the TPGS; they are slowly reverting to a more technical approach.&nbsp; Ignoring &quot;strike&quot; is one indication of this.&nbsp; So was &quot;detail&quot; grading to more correctly describe a coin other than a&quot;net&quot; approach! </span></p><p><br /></p><p>Then we have the special designations, a way to take an average coin and make it special, something more than it actually is. The coin may only grade 63, or 64, but if you slap a special designation on the slab - well, it becomes special. Not only increasing the desirability of the coin in the eyes of the public, <span style="color: rgb(0, 179, 89)">but increasing its value as well.&nbsp; <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">AS IT SHOULD!</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p>But what do you actually have when you have a coin with one of the special designations? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie46" alt=":facepalm:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Ah, a better than average coin? </span>We&#039;ve got FS or Full Steps for Jeffs, FB or Full Bands for Mercs, FH or Full Head for SLQ&#039;s, and FBL or Full Bell Lines for Frankies - all of them among the most popular coins for collectors.</p><p><br /></p><p>But here&#039;s the thing, a Jeff is labeled FS - but you can&#039;t even see the windows of Monticello. Or maybe only 5 steps are visible instead of the 6 that are supposed to be there. So how in the world can anyone label that coin as being well, or very well struck ? <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">I don&#039;t have a problem with this so we&#039;ll need to wait for other comments.&nbsp; Perhaps the window design became worn off the die.</span></p><p><br /></p><p>A Merc is labeled FB (used to be FSB but was shortened) but other details of the fasces and or the details of the obv are weak, so how can you label that coin as well or very well struck ? <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Ditto above.</span></p><p><br /></p><p>An SLQ is labeled as FH but yet there are rivets on the shield that are not even visible and other details that are weak, so how can you label that coin as well or very well struck ?&nbsp; <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Ditto above.</span></p><p><br /></p><p>A Frankie is labeled as FBL but you can&#039;t read Pass and Stow on the bell, the wisp of hair in front of the ear on the obv is non existent and other details are weak, so how can label that coin as well or very well struck ?</p><p><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)"><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie57" alt=":jawdrop:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> I see you are one of the folks who care about the wisp of hair on the obverse.</span></p><p><br /></p><p>The answer to all of these questions is simple - you cannot ! <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Oh but you can and they do</span>. But yet they do. And to add insult to injury PCGS has weaker criteria for all of them than NGC does. <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">That is a crime.&nbsp; Shame on PCGS!</span></p><p><br /></p><p>And the worst part of it is - the public buys into it. They fall all over themselves to buy these coins, and pay more for them, just because they have these meaningless, and I mean truly meaningless, &quot;special designations&quot; on the slabs. When there is nothing special about them.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Well. I guess like most things its personal.&nbsp; Some folks <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie30" alt=":bucktooth:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> don&#039;t care what they drive or what it looks like.&nbsp; Others <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie47" alt=":greedy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> want a shiny 911 Turbo S.&nbsp; Bottom line...there is a price difference. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie33" alt=":cigar:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> </span>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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