I received an email last week informing me of the NGC Introduction to Gradding class to be held at the Baltimore Convention Center today from 9am to 4pm. The coast of the class was $149 which I thought was somewhat reasonable so I duly signed up and sent my check in (for some reason they couldn't take anything electronically). This was held in conjunction with the Whitman Coin Exposition which hits Baltimore at least twice a year. Showed up this morning and and took my seat. In front of me was a complementary hardcover 2014 Red Book, a Bausch and Lomb 5x Loop, and a pad of paper and pen. The instructor was NGC grader John Schuch, II who has been grading at NGC for nearly 9 years. No slides, just repetitive exercises at grading coins in a "simulated" environment. There were 17 of us in the class so we each took our turns at grading 17 separate coins and then having Jon reveal what the actual grades assigned by NGc were. All of the coins were "buybacks" from the NGC Guarantee program. John asked us for our grades and then told us what the reassigned grades were and explained why they were "mistakes" in the first place and why they garnered the different results upon regrading. At first, I wasn't real thrilled with the format since I'm so new to the hobby. I found that I was severely under grading the coins in the first set and only guessed one correct and the rest were at least 5-7 grades too low. The next set I was able to confidently get one grade exact and was more competitive with grading the other coins only missing by an average of two grades. The third set, I nailed three exactly. and had several where I was within one grade. I now know i have issues with accurately assessing toning (natural versus artificial) as well as determining whether or not a coin has been cleaned or not. I also have a lot more confidence in knowing whether a coin is MS versus a lower grade. Am I ready to start my own TPG - NO!!! But the exercise was worth the money and they even paid for my lunch! This is evidently a first of its kind class by the NGC so they will be asking for feedback. If you see one offered in your area I would highly advise taking it. Several of the folks in attendance had more than 30 years in the hobby and I think they learned something as well.
Very Nice. I took a class similar to that from a great ICG Grader Cameron Keifer. Pm me and tell me what you might of learned about the reason grader deem some coins cleaned. I just like to find out if rules are slightly different that say 6 years ago.
Sliderguy, I'll answer hear since it might be of use to everyone. One of the things they handed out which I forgot to mention was a booklet called "Understanding 'NGC Details Grading'" which describes the various types of "flaws" for lack of a better word. They consider the following as "improper cleaning:" - Artificial toning since it's caused many times by someone trying to remove other toning. This would primarily happen when someone treats a copper coin. - Brushed - Burnished (more aggressive than brushed) - Polished - Spot removals - Surface hairlines - Whizzed (by a rotary wire brush - Wiped (generally accidental rather than intentional) If they can't make a more specific identification, it will just come back "Improperly Cleaned."
