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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;IdesOfMarch01, post: 4702064, member: 39084&quot;]Until very recently (ca. 2005 and later) many catalogs contained only the description of coins and not necessarily a picture of the coins.&nbsp; If you wanted to acquire a coin from a dealer, or at an auction, where you couldn&#039;t view the coin in hand, how would you make an assessment that the coin was in the condition you found acceptable?</p><p><br /></p><p>This is especially problematic for ancient coins, since no two ancient coins are truly alike.&nbsp; Thus an approximate, subjective, but useful grading system was created to facilitate the sale and auction of ancient coins without the necessity of physically imaging every coin being offered.</p><p><br /></p><p>Flash forward to today: every coin that&#039;s being offered is accompanied by some sort of picture.&nbsp; Usually the picture is more than sufficient to make an informed purchase decision -- for most dealers and auction houses offering coins, the only way to get a better idea of the coin&#039;s condition is to view it in hand. </p><p><br /></p><p>For me, this has rendered ancient coin grades to be a curiosity (yes, I&#039;m curious about the grade) but nothing else.&nbsp; If the coin&#039;s picture and description were not accompanied by an estimated grade,<i> it would make no difference whatsoever in my evaluation of whether or not to acquire the coin</i>.&nbsp; Even if the picture isn&#039;t well composed or exposed, an accompanying grade would not provide enough additional information to make a purchase decision -- in this case I would have to view the coin in person or have my dealer view the coin and evaluate it.</p><p><br /></p><p>If part of your purchasing decision involves the investment/future value of the coin, then it&#039;s understandable that a coin&#039;s grade might enter into your purchase decision.&nbsp; This is not the case for my personal collecting interests.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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