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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 146368, member: 112&quot;]As with anything else, it all boils down to how you define something. In this case how do you define MS or PF70 - or in other words what grading standards do you use ? Your own, the ANA&#039;s or somebody else&#039;s ? And the next step is - how do you determine if the coin in question meets that criteria ?</p><p><br /></p><p>The ANA standards say that no contact marks or hairlines show under magnification. So OK, how much magnification ? Well they tell ya that too - the ANA recommends 3x to 7x, no more. Which is why most experienced graders will tell you to use a 5x - split the difference if you will. So, if a coin meets these criteria ( as well as the other listed criteria for the grade ) then it is worthy of the grade. But there is a problem - none of the grading companies use the ANA standards - they each use their own. That of course always leads to the my dog is better than your dog discussion. And that always leads to the counting ( pop reports ) discussion.</p><p><br /></p><p>Well lemme tell ya - you can discuss until the cows come home about which company has the most strict standards for grading coins and you can count until you run out of numbers - and you won&#039;t prove anything. There is only one thing that proves anything at all - the coins themselves. And you can&#039;t do it with just a single coin, you have to use groups of coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Take an equally sized&nbsp; group of coins graded as 70&#039;s by each of the grading companies - compare them. Know what you&#039;ll find ? You&#039;ll find that in some cases coins graded by NGC are nicer than those graded by PCGS. And in others you&#039;ll find that coins graded by PCGS are nicer than those graded by NGC. And in some cases you&#039;ll find that coins graded by ICG are every bit the equal of those graded by NGC and PCGS. But what is even more interesting is that you&#039;ll find examples from PCGS that are nicer than others graded by PCGS - and the same is true of NGC and ICG as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now - what does this tell you ?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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