I guess it was inevitable, but I saw a world coin at Northeast Numismatic that is graded MS64+ which is the first time I have seen this nonsense from NGC. So much for my admiration of NGC for having held-out on engaging in that sort of thing until now. I consider the whole explanation of negating the bean services (CAC, etc) to be kind of spurious. 11 mint state grades are probably too many as it was, now we get 22 grades. In any case, the coin is a Russian gold novodel.
This change became effective on March 3, 2015. For anyone who wants to read the entire press release, click on the link below. http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=4511 Chris
Grades of 69 and 70 are not eligible for a plus, so actually only 20 levels of MS. Nonetheless, fret not as the plus (+) will likely be ignored on world coins just as it has been largely ignored on USA coins. This "innovation" will not go down in the history books as anything special. Just keep collecting nice coins and ignore the distractions...
The star is not a part of the technical grade. It is a designation for eye appeal. It has nothing to do with the numerical grade.
Here is a NEWP that had the *. I assure you all I could tell the eye appeal without the notation and bid accordingly.
Maybe they're holding-out on the MS70+ grade for a year or two before announcing that going forward, MS70 really isn't the best. "Has to have the +" to be the best. The whole affair reminds of Dr. Seuss' classic children's story, The Sneetches, and "their stars upon thars"
I never understood the distinction between foreign and US coins - if you put + and * and such on US coins, why would you grade foreign ones differently? The market for NGC graded coins is primarily US-dominated, and the plus and star have been accepted in US grading. I'm also happy that NGC is designating all foreign coins which qualify as "PL" now as well.
I'm a little confused about eye appeal. Someone stated that the star isn't part of grading, but isn't eye appeal factored into the mint state grades? I read Halperin's book and the part on mint state grading, and eye appeal is mentioned among other factors in determining the numerical grade.
The star is given by NGC for exceptional eye appeal for the grade (which equates almost always to either "purdy" toning, exceptional luster, or semi-proof like surfaces that just miss PL for non-proof coins -- it means something different on proof coins, but you can Google that). The point being, NGC doesn't specifically bump the numeric market grade for a coin that is otherwise strike limited or has abrasions or hits. They don't have to since they have a way of denoting a subjectively "purdy" eye appealing factor via the star. PCGS, on the other hand, specifically includes things like "purdy" color in the numeric grade -- even when some other technical grade-limiting things like strike or hits may be present. You are correct that "eye appeal" is a part of any market graded coin, but having the option to denote exceptionally pretty toning on a coin via a star instead of bumping it up to 2 numeric grades means NGC grades for such coins are more informative IMO. In the end, it's up to the buyer to determine the value of a coin. If it can be obtained for what one considers "reasonable" then so be it. If not, then pass. It's sounds overly simple, but that's because it really is simple.
