Guess the grade #356

duplicate post deleted

 

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I really don't care. I'm not stuck on grade, either how they were nor how they are. Grading, to me, is simply a means to an end -- pricing -- and the TPGs do a very good job at it. Certainly much better than before TPG grading where we had to go by the seller's even-more-inconsistent view.

Are TPGs perfect? Far from it.

Would I prefer they stick to a consistent standard? Yes.

Are they better than the alternative? Without a doubt, in my opinion.

 

Two points....and not to be argumentative....

First, the TPGs don't grade according to the worst side, they grade more on the obverse, IMO.

Second, are you sure that "scratch" in front of the nose is on the coin? It appears to me (along with the one to the left of Lincoln) to be on the slab. Perhaps RLM might comment on this.

 

[deleted duplicate post, argh]

 

That's how they should be graded , but I thought I read that the obverse gets about 70% of the grade , I'll try to look up where I read it and let you know .

 

I agree with the first paragraph, and disagree with the 2nd. In the situation you describe in the second paragraph, I think the coin would likely be graded 65 or 64 -- as far as the TPGs are concerned.

 

OK , then lets say the obverse is a high 65 and the reverse is a high 64 , will they grade it a 64 or 65 ?

 

That's what I thought with the tpgs . This is taken from page22 of PCGS Guide to Coin Grading . " In nearly all cases the obverse determines the majority , or in many cases , all of the total grade ." But goes on to say if the coins obverse is a 63 and the reverse a 65 it will be graded a 63 . It doesn't go on to say if the obverse is higher and the reverse is lower it will be graded by the lower side . So I imagine they would give a 65/63 coin a 64 . Which we see with a lot of these Lincolns .

 

Absolutely agree! Obverse is a 66 and reverse is a 64, the coin grades 64. This is pretty self-evident in all literature, and in the TPG statements on all of their websites. How many times have we all had a beautiful looking obverse coin, with a problem on that back that downgrades it? People look at the obverse more when viewing the coin, but the overall TPG grade is based on the worst side.

 

What "plain language" are you referring to? That is NOT what the PCGS grading guide says...

Page 22 of PCGS grading guide 2nd edition, verbatim:

"Finally, what does that split-grade coin really grade? In nearly all cases, the obverse determines the majority -- or, in many cases, all -- of the total grade."

Nowhere, as far as I know, does it say that they grade a coin by the worst side -- either in description nor practice.

As an aside, it is much more typical for a coin's obverse to be lower than the reverse -- due to the design of most US coinage. Thus most of the coins are graded by their lower grade, but that's because the obverse tends to be a lower grade, and not because the TPGs grade to the lower graded side.

None of that, however, change PCGS's words above, which are very clear and quite contrary to what you suggest.

 

The scratch in question doesn't look like a scratch but perhaps a hair particle sitting on top of the slab itself.

 

65, imo, but it is fairly uncommon for the reverse to grade lower than the obverse. More common is the opposite. To use your example it would be the obverse as a high 64 and reverse as a high 65. In that case, the coin's grade will generally be a 64. Remember, the majority of a coin's grade, according to the TPGs, is assigned by the grade of the obverse.

 

I read the entire section. What you say is true only to the extent the obverse is the lowest grade....

If the obverse is 65 and the reverse is 64, the coin will be graded 65.

That's not grading by the worst side.

 

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, my friend.

 

I don't think it's quite as black and white as that, Doug. While I agree with most of what you have said, in this example above that you make it is MY opinion that the TPG might grade the coin MS-65. That is to say that the grade would be influenced most by the obverse but not a black/white 1 grade (obverse) or the other (reverse). rather a more overall grade dominated by the obverse grade.

Does that make sense or am I way off base?