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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;halfcent1793, post: 4507478, member: 86853&quot;]In the 19th century, there were no defined grading terms. Dealers and auctioneers used words to describe their coins, if they said anything at all about them. In those days, “Fine” often meant nicely struck, as in a “fine impression.” Sometimes, however, it meant very nice, as in a “Fine Proof,” a term that would make no sense at all in today’s market. Other terms that wouldn’t make sense today include the truly oxymoronic “Almost Proof.” History and connoisseurship were more important to the collectors than condition. Fortunately, there were more coins available than collectors who wanted them, and the price spread between worn and unworn pieces was small. </p><p><br /></p><p>Grading has <i>always </i>been controversial. Increased popularity of coin collecting in the early part of the 20th century, led to a desire to solve <i>the grading problem</i>. In March, 1913, H.O. Granberg, a member of the Committee on Classification for the ANA, proposed adoption of a uniform standard for classifying the condition of coins. His description of Fine, “very slight traces of wear only in the parts of highest relief,” describes what we call Extremely Fine today. Good meant “everything distinct but somewhat worn,” whatever that meant. (F-VF, maybe?) What he called Fair, “much worn but all outlines showing,” would be Good today. Anything worse than Fair was called Poor. Gradually, these and other grading terms based on the amount of wear came into common usage[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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