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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;1916D10C, post: 3288207, member: 97585&quot;]It is funny you ask this question OP, because i was thinking of starting a thread like this yesterday. I am extremely strict. I&#039;m fussy over obtaining coins absent of digs, hits, and scratches, even on lower graded, straight graded coins. I will not buy details coins. I just can&#039;t appreciate a details coin enough to merit buying it. I will always look at that coin and think to myself &quot;if this didn&#039;t have the cleaning, scratch, tooling, etc, it would look so much nicer!&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My main criteria of quality is in order of Wear Pattern (even wear is necessary), Surface Quality (absence of scratches, cleaning, digs, porosity is necessary) and overall eye appeal (eye appeal must be positive, ie, no spots, unattractive toning), but Eye Appeal often directly corresponds to Surface Quality.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I always rely on my own eye. It so happens most of my better coins are slabbed, however that is due to the fact most of the better coins on the market now are slabbed. This doesn&#039;t mean I won&#039;t consider raw coins so long as I can determine them authentic. Anybody that needs professional validation to tell them if their coin is of high or low quality should not be buying coins in the first place and needs to study more. I&#039;m not saying it isn&#039;t good to get a second opinion from someone more knowledgeable, but you should have a general idea of the quality yourself. For instance, I often bug my mentor with coin questions, &quot;what do you think of this?&quot; &quot;Does this look like xxx to you?&quot; &quot;Is this environmental damage?&quot; But I don&#039;t rely on the TPG&#039;s label or a sticker on a slab to influence my decision of whether or not something is quality or whether or not I should purchase it. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>If a coin is &quot;nice&quot; and a reasonable price, I&#039;ll take it. A lot of this question has to do with price and availability. If I can find a &quot;nicer&quot; coin or one superior to the &quot;nice&quot; one, I&#039;ll be patient to find one superior for the grade.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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