Trying to a handle on the nuance’s the the NGC “+” and PCGS “+” designations. I understand that they are applied to certain coins that are at the higher end of the assigned grade. What I’ve been noticing at auctions this year, that coins graded at AU-58+ are bringing stronger prices as compared with other “+” grades. The MS-62+ and up do have higher prices as compared with non + counterparts, but the spread is much narrower than the AU-58 to AU-58+. I have seen a few lower graded + grades, 45 to 53, again the spread is much closer. It seems the AU-58+ is the king of the plus grades. Could someone explain why?
Do you want the truth? or do you want a bit of fiction. This grade in my opinion is what built your modern day sliders and market grading. And is usually a very perty eye appealing coin.
The AU 58+ enjoys a large premium mainly because of registry sets. There are "everyman" sets where all coins have to be 58 or lower. The 58+ has the highest score and can take someone up to the top spot (there are plenty of 58s but 58+ populations are much smaller, so having one means it's unlikely another person will easily be able to match your score). The populations being low for 58+ plays a role in pricing (if we ignore registry sets) but some other grades with a "+" are also scarce and they don't have as much of a premium (like you noticed).
It is. It's also the rarest. Its the one that on another day could be a 64 or 65 if not for some small minuscule reason and those will be nicer than a lot of higher graded coins. Modern 58s in general are like 63s with slight friction. In general though there's also just bigger gaps in price from AU to MS. When you look at MS grades if theres a small spread from a 63 to 64 a 63+ might get you 64 money but there just wasnt much room for it to move if that makes sense
That can also be the case for coins with large spreads between an AU and MS. However, for common coins like the below 1951 Franklin, it is all registry chasing since that coin needs to be MS 67 to attain the same price. https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/880487/1951-Franklin-Half-Dollar-PCGS-AU-58-Toned
I wouldnt say it's all registry chasing as that is a very nice franklin with some color, but in that case that likely was playing a role/significant role. We do have to remember though that not everything purchased ends up in a registry set. In fact most things dont but registry participation is the norm on forums
The toning on the Franklin isn't enough to draw that big of a color premium and it is in an everyman registry currently, so I'm confident it was all registry driven. Put that Franklin in a 66 holder and I'm fairly certain it would bring much less than the final price. In general, I would estimate the 58+ coin prices are 75% registry driven (especially on otherwise common sub $100 coins) and 25% other reasons (eye appeal, large spread to MS grade, etc).
