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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2549292, member: 19463&quot;]If we define mint state as perfection, relatively few ancients left the mint that way.&nbsp; The differences in strike on US coins between a MS61 and MS69 is relatively little but there are ancients which never had better than Fine Details when they were made.&nbsp; This really makes it hard to force a rating into one of just five strike levels.&nbsp; I still believe that grading ancient coins is a pointless activity because of the need to decide which of several factors counts more and which can be ignored and still allow a coin top marks.&nbsp; We had to grade coins when we were buying from unillustrated lists but in this day of photos being expected for $5 coins, we might be as well off just rating how a coin strikes us compared to its photo than how it compared to an indefinable standard.&nbsp; With any system, who will pay for a coin marked &#039;less than average&#039; or &#039;almost worst known&#039;.&nbsp; Business and truth are hard to make play nicely together.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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