grading and quality

Robert Kokotailo of Calgary Coin has just announced an update to his pages on grading and quality of ancient coins:

http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/grading/grading.htm

 

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Thanks for the link.

 

Nice read, thanks for the link. Good for future use too.

 

I see a lot of good on these pages but disagree with a few points. He does mention there is a lot of room for poinion in the matter. I would have used different coins for some uses. For example it would be possible to select poor style and great style from the same mint of Septimius Severus. I was once told that the only mint of his worth having was Rome and that the rest were just junk. The only coin I own from that dealer is an Eastern Septimius and I traded him another one for it. He knew everything and I wanted the more scarce one so we were both happy.

This really makes me feel like I should redo my Grading Pages and add a hundred more photos. When my site was new and had a hit counter on it, these were my most popular ones.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade.html

 

When I first started collecting Roman coins over a dozen years ago I printed off those pages and kept them in a binder. I still have it. Those pages probably have had a greater influence on what I look for in a coin than I'm aware of. IMHO, they are fine just as they are.

 

Doug,
When I started collecting ancient coins I used your web site and the one by CC. I found there was a lot to learn before buying ancients. I spent as much on books as coins for a while. I would like to see an updated dougsmith/grade link. Maybe you could write a book on how to collect on a budget and still find coins that call to you like the Sirens.

 

I hardly ever give coins I am selling a grade. It is much more important to take a decent picture and let people decide for themselves. Grading ancient coins is very subjective, especially if a dealer is grading coins he is selling. Years ago it was more important, perhaps even necessary, to have grades, since many printed auctions did not have pictures. I used to regularly buy coins from a dealer over the phone, without ever seeing the coin. A few dealers still do business without pictures, but for the most part, those days are gone, as is the need to worry about grading ancient coins. As a buyer, if you can see the coin pictured, you decide if you like it and buy it. The obsession with coin grading is one of the reasons I stopped collecting US coinage and started collecting ancients. Of course, I realize some people feel more comfortable with their coins graded, the same as some people like them slabbed.

 

Over-grading is so rampant on vcoins and eBay, I think grades are now meaningless.

I just opened vcoins and found this barely recognisable Pontius Pilate prutah graded as "Almost Fine". What?
No, any reasonable person would grade this as "Almost Poor".


"Very Fine for type" is a confusing term that I frequently see - basically it means "crap, but most coins of this type are crap".

You should know if a coin is desirable by its eye appeal - same as you would for a painting or an antique. And eye appeal has many components as Doug and Robert outline.

 

on the coin grading scale, fine is not a very good condition coin. So "almost fine" means it is close to being not very good...but to be more confusing, though in not very good condition, it could be called "very good" on the same grading scale.

 

Haha yes. It seems most grading scales now omit the Poor and Fair categories - so "Good" has come to mean "Poor" and "Very Good" means "Fair".

Outside of its numismatic use, the word "Good" has positive connotations. This must be very confusing for novice collectors. I say - abolish grades (and slabs of course)!

 

Robert Kokotailo of Calgary Coin

Funny ... I've only purchased Canadian coins from my Canadian coin-cousin!!

He is awesome ... he is the type of dude that will toss-in a random bonus coin (sure, he may have been chumming the water for future picks, but everybody loves a freebie, right?)

 

Robert is awesome for ancients. I bought my Marius from him.

 

I bought a whole bunch of Dominion of Canada quarters from the dude (he had/has a great collection)

Hmmm, I'll have to check-out his ancients (hopefully he'll recall our old dealings?)

 

I kept looking for my favorite grade in that article: winna winna chicken dinna!

 

*edit*



Sorry, I realize I've side-swiped another thread (my bad) ... over and out

 

I bought this one from Robert. He is great to deal with and he has some great coin stories too.

 

Talk of grading ancient coins reminds me of a book on book grading:
Slightly Foxed but Still Desirable, by Ronald Searle


The book is a good read..... ie, it has lots of pictures.
I must make a rule to stop posting after midnight. The quality of my thought process drops then.

 

That was a very interesting read. As a newb in the ancient world, I appreciate the tutorial!

 

Some will certainly disagree with what I am about to say. I feel grading is irrelevant, especially so for ancients. I could care less what descriptive words one person assigns to any coin. If it looks good to me, and I agree with the price, that is all there is to consider. Back in the old days, coins were sold via paper catalogs. Not all lots were photographed as it was expensive. So, grading was more relevant then. Now, grading is completely unnecessary (at least to me). Give me a good photo and I will decide for myself!

 

I agree completely with @Ken Dorney