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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 4703250, member: 110350&quot;]I agree completely as well.&nbsp; Grades were obviously necessary back when catalogs listed ancient coins without photos.&nbsp; I think photos accompanying descriptions were already widespread by the time Ebay began in the late 1990s.&nbsp; I know that Seaby&#039;s Numismatic Circular was accompanying all of its ancient and other coin listings with photos no later than 1999 (when the oldest issues I have were published), although I&#039;m almost certain that in the 1980s it was still using descriptions and grades only.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, I rarely pay much attention to the grades, except with certain old-fashioned dealers who still appear to grade conservatively.&nbsp; (In my experience, the grade inflation is worse in France than anywhere else.)&nbsp; There are some dealers who don&#039;t even bother using grades anymore.&nbsp; I am happy to make a buying decision based entirely on the photos and written descriptions.</p><p><br /></p><p>And I also agree that there are few things more excruciatingly boring than discussions of whether a coin deserves a grade of MS-63 or MS-65, and the like.&nbsp; I fervently hope that kind of discussion never penetrates this forum.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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