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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3087491, member: 19463&quot;]I don&#039;t see nearly as many coins, slabbed or otherwise, compared to most of you high end dealers and collectors but I have noted that surface 2/5 is NGC speak for minor surface scratches that many of us would not notice.&nbsp; I suspect it results in many coins being removed from slabs since the buyer will not notice the problem.&nbsp; They seem particularly hard on graffiti.&nbsp; On the other hand, they allow rough surfaces with texture that bothers me a great deal more and that shows easily trough the plastic at a 3/5 level.&nbsp; I do not know how one could design a system that would cover the span of what exists in just five levels.&nbsp; I have many coins that I would like to know the grade opinion by their system but curiosity does not cause me to pay $50 (postage included) to grade a coin not worth $50.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1997, I posted my grading pages declaring two considerations beyond the VF and friends wear grades.&nbsp; These were &#039;Conditions of Manufacture&#039; which is more or less strike and &#039;Conditions of Preservation&#039; which is more or less surface.&nbsp; </p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade2.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade2.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade2.html</a></p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade3.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade3.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade3.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>At that time, I toyed with the idea of assigning numbers to each of these but thought 0-9 was proper rather than 1-5.&nbsp; Rather than comparing apples and oranges, I thought it better to assign specific value judgments like 9=attractive, even, smooth patina/tone or 2=damage affecting important parts of the coin making the coin ugly.&nbsp; I reserved grade level 0 for coins that could not be graded without a paragraph.&nbsp; Such coins are common.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1997, it struck me that there was no way that the general population would every agree on a system that complicated so I dropped the idea of the numbers and hoped just to get people to consider the fact that there is more to grading ancients than you can cover with VF and friends.&nbsp; I also had lurking in the back of my mind that this idea was not original but I could not find the reference where I saw someone suggest it in some article in some magazine from the past.&nbsp; Does anyone recall a suggestion of this nature by someone (guessing here, Paul Rynearson???) from the 80&#039;s, perhaps? </p><p><br /></p><p>I can only comment on the values you have already received on one coin.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I have a lot of fourrees.&nbsp; I have bought very few in the last 20 years because most respectable dealers would not touch the things in the 90&#039;s so they were cheap.&nbsp;&nbsp; There was a story about a guy that saw three EID MAR fourrees in a drawer at a big name dealer because they would not sell them.&nbsp;&nbsp; Today, our non-fourree people seem to think they are worth more than I do.&nbsp; Lets just say I&#039;m never the right buyer. $50 is plenty.&nbsp; There is a difference between what you <i>can</i> sell something for if you find the right buyer and what you <i>should</i>.&nbsp; How much do you take off for smoothing, tooling, being fourree or just plain old modern fake?&nbsp; Opinions differ. </p><p><br /></p><p>These days my best fourree would be discounted as much for being worn to fine as for being plated.&nbsp; ex. Charles H. Wolfe </p><p>[ATTACH=full]778533[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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