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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;airedale, post: 136125, member: 4695&quot;]The 2 major grading services are so wound up in discerning the ever so subtle minutia that separates a 66 from 67, a 67 from a 68, etc…that in my opinion, they often miss the BIG PICTURE. As recently as the mid 1980s, we all bought coins based mostly on our own personal perception of the aesthetic “eye appeal” of a given mint state or proof coin. We were willing to pay more for the nicer, more eye appealing examples...and such examples were assigned &quot;higher grades&quot; by words such as &quot;gem proof&quot; which was nicer than &quot;choice proof&quot;, &quot;superb gem proof&quot; which was better than a &quot;gem proof&quot;. Nobody…I mean nobody…was concerned about the tiniest hairline that only the very sharpest professional could find with his highly trained eagle eye. Today, the &quot;registry folks&quot; stomp on each other to buy a PCGS 69 coin at a truly ludicrous price…and not because the coin looks even the tiniest bit better than its 68 counterpart. Can they see the difference with their own eyes? 9 out of 10 registry collectors cannot see the difference!! They buy it ONLY because PCGS says its better on the grading tag!!!! And to add some real fuel to the fire, if you crack out 10 pre-1972 PCGS proof 69 coins and resubmit them to PCGS for grading, it is exceedingly likely that 5 or even more of them will get only a 68 on regrade!!! </p><p>It is true that PCI standards for numeric grade, cameo designation, and deep cameo designation are not quite as strict as those of the 2 major services. The fair market prices reflect this quite well (in some cases too well, ie. undervalued). But be clear about this: PCI has not lost sight of the BIG PICTURE! Coins with clearly nicer eye appeal are generally awarded higher numerical grades. Coins with clear cameo contrast are awarded the designation without splitting hairs about it (the 2 major services try constantly to split the tiniest hairs). Coins with exceptionally strong cameo contrast are acknowledged with the deep cameo designation again without trying to split hairs[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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