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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;mackat, post: 2845461, member: 45768&quot;]There are many reasons why a coin may details grade, from improper cleaning, to scratches, to environmental damage. These, for the most part, make sense to me and are fairly straightforward. However, the designation &quot;Surface Hairlines&quot;, as used by NGC, stands out to me. While I am far from an expert on third party coin grading, and indeed coin grading overall, this designation seems somewhat arbitrary. I have heard of cases where the TPG returned a coin with this designation (or its equivalent) yet the hairlines are not (or are just barely, when lit at a very specific angle) visible with the naked eye. The criteria for this seems very subjective, such as: how much of the coin&#039;s surface the hairlines cover, which area of the coin&#039;s surface the hairlines cover, etc. There are even cases when one coin receives a straight grade with more obvious hairlines than a similar coin that received a details grade.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t fully understand why a lightly hairlined coin that would otherwise grade MS-63 (and would likely sell for MS-63 money were it raw) is considered a details, or problem, coin, whereas a likely less visually appealing MS-60 or MS-61 example would straight grade. Or, let me put it this way: why, in the holder, the UNC details coin (visually an MS-63) would likely sell for less than an MS-60 or MS-61 graded example, though visually superior. There looks to be many lightly hairlined coins in details holders that I wouldn&#039;t otherwise mind owning - save for the stigma of the details grade.</p><p><br /></p><p>What say you?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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