Hey, As I am educating myself in coin collecting, I glean more good information off this site than anywhere else. I was wondering about one thing. I know that the average person can not see the difference between MS69 and MS70 in modern coins, but I find the price difference puzzling. It must concern the ratio between the two. I have done a little searching but have not found any good information. Is there a good rule of thumb in the population of coins in given series compared to the ratio of MS69 and MS70 in that population? In other words, how many MS69's come graded out as compared to MS70's in very modern coins?
The very fact that a coin could be possibly made from start to finish WITHOUT any trace of wear, no evidence of scratches, no handling or contact with other coins is almost impossible. This also includes the condition of the blanks before the coins are struck...and of course the condition of the dies and the strike are also important as they must be "perfect". With that said, many believe that MS70 coins are just that...impossible, but sometimes you can get lucky. That is why the population of these coins with the MAJOR grading services are low, and hence command premium dollars. No ticks, no nicks, no abrasions under the loop is almost impossible to find. Once you see a nick, tick, etc., it is NOT MS70 amymore! There is no ratio of 69's to 70's that I know of and I doubt there is one. Also, the professional grader has to be in a good mood before the grade is issued. I have seen coins graded MS69 and I was hard pressed to find a flaw...but I am sure there was one.
If you are looking to purchase any certified MS70 coins, please be sure to stick with NGC, PCGS, ICG, and ANACS. The fly-by-night grading companies are assigning inaccurate MS70 and PR70 grades like crazy. And, as Ed said, check the coin out closely. Even though it's been graded (even by one of the Big Four), mistakes can still be made.
I don't really believe in MS-70 on several levels. First is that I don't believe that any coin can be truly perfect. Even if you could show a few coins that really deserved the grade, they could still be separated best to worst. No modern regular issue of any series has ever been graded MS-70. Indeed, other than a small handful of ultra-moderns, none has ever been graded MS-69 either. A good rule of thumb for most of the moderns is that 10% of mint set coins are choice, 2% are gem. Generally about every fourth gem is choice gem and evey tenth choice gem is superb gem or better. You have to play around with definitions a little to make this work for some coins because they are skewed up or down the scale a little. Also some gems will not necessarily show full detail like full steps or full torch etc. There is significant variation from these numbers in any case. Gems can be as scarce as about .25% or as common as about 7%. Gems can be found in rolls and in many cases this is actually a better place to look for mark free coins. Finding coins with good strikes in the rolls is extremely difficult. Monsters (MS-68) appear extremely irregularly and almost certainly don't exist for most regular issue moderns. Some dates that are common in gem will be very tough in choice gem and others which are tough even in lower grades aren't especially tough in the high grades. Any analysis has to be done on a series to series and date to date basis.
When attempting to understand the monster grades of 69 and 70 it boils down to a slightly different system. Not only is strike and condition major factors, but also what the Mint intended. If the die has any flaw in it, the coin will not grade at 69 or 70. As to the ratio, it is very slim indeed for either grade. The fact that 70 commands a premium is based on the fact that people like owning something that is perfect by any standard. While 99.9% of the people cannot spot the difference, it is more an ego thing than anything else. Personally, I have not been able to see the difference between any of the true monster grades. The speck between 67 and 70 are not enough for this man to notice.
About the only coins ever assigned an MS69 or 70 grade are the American Silver & Gold Eagles - and modern commems. That's it. I have yet to ever see any modern coin that was struck for circulation graded MS69 or 70. With one exception - I have seen a few, less than a handful, of coins struck for circulation graded by ICG that were assigned the MS69 grade. MS70 - never - not even by ICG. Now I will say this - there are, again very few, coins struck for circulation back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Morgan dollars and few pieces of Barber coinage - that have been assigned the MS69 grade by PCGS & NGC. But you wanna talk about condition rarities - Boy Howdy !! - that's them.
