When I look at slabbed early commems (both in my collection and those at shows), I can't help but notice that grading of these coins is much more lenient than for other comparable series of coins. For example, I compare early commems with my and dealers' slabbed Walking Liberty halves. If a Walker had the dings, scratches and abrasions that my PCGS MS-66 graded early commems have, they would be graded as an MS-62 or MS-63 at best. In contrast, an MS-65 Walking Liberty is really a 'clean-looking coin' with only a few stray marks. And I've compared a lot of coins. I find that even PCGS graded MS-65 to MS-66 have many small to medium dings. There really is no such thing as an early commem with clean surfaces unless you look at MS-67 and above. Why do graders grade early commems more leniently (re: practice grade inflation). Is there a tacit recognition that most early commems were ill-treated and thus there would be no MS-65 and up coins if they were subjected to the same grading standards applied to other series of coins? Have any other collectors/dealers noticed this phenomenon? Or am I just blind and/or a know-nothing rookie? Thanks.
Sturm, I really have to disagree with your analysis. I collect classic commemoratives, Morgan Dollars, Jefferson Nickels, Peace Dollars, and SLQ's. While I do see different standards with regards to surface preservation and grade across different series, I don't see the classic commemorative receiving the most leniency. Morgan Dollars are far less clean than commemoratives IMO. While some of the classic commems were ill treated, many were put away by experience collectors and every issue survives in premium gem condition to this day. Probably the worst treated commem was the Lafayette Dollar which was sold in a fundraiser and the coins ended up outside of the realm of true collectors. Here is a photo of my MS65 Lafayette. While there is an obvious mark on the cheek, I submit that this gem is much cleaner than any MS65 Morgan Dollar I have ever seen. For comparison's sake, this is one of the cleaner Morgans in my collection. I don't collect WLH's but I do own an MS66 and I see just as many surface impairments as you would typically find on a classic commem.
Thanks for the explanation. I guess most of my PCGS early commems and those I have examined in dealers' cases are overgraded then. Such is life. I wish I could show you them to demonstrate what I am talking about. Almost all of them have far more dings than walking liberties and other series. Oh well. Too bad as they say
