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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 7423433, member: 44316&quot;]Grades, and in particular NGC grades, strike numbers, and surface numbers are a way to communicate something about coins that I call &quot;condition,&quot; which is highly, but not perfectly, correlated with desirability of examples of that type.</p><p><br /></p><p>In my opinion the NGC description of the OP coin is just right. It brings that quality of coin to mind. Similarly, I think the NGC description of Al&#039;s coin is just right. Keep in mind that 5/5 is not &quot;perfect&quot;, rather the top 20% (I think Ed meant to say &quot;top 20%,&quot; not &quot;top 80%&quot;). Some &quot;Strike: 5/5&quot; coins are much better than others, especially because the last tiny bit of perfection matters a lot in coin prices. You can understand why Al&#039;s nice coin got a 4/5 for surface, because the surface could be better.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think NGC&#039;s standards are pretty consistent, which makes them understandable.&nbsp; If you wish that NGC&#039;s standards were somehow different, I think you just need to grasp their language. (By the way, I can think of ways that the old standards failed to describe the conditions of some coins.) </p><p><br /></p><p>Personally, I sigh when someone writes they are unhappy with the grades and numbers assigned to a coin. To me that suggests they care more about the grade than the coin. The coin is what it is. Look at the coin. It doesn&#039;t become something else when NGC rates it on three scales. </p><p><br /></p><p>I hate to think that ancient-coin collectors will pay more attention to NGC ratings than they do to the coin, but it is beginning to happen. I am disappointed&nbsp; because discussing the subject means collectors will begin to collect ratings instead of collecting coins. It happened in US coins. US-coin collecting is not better for it. Maybe US-coin <b>investing</b> is, but <b>collecting</b> for enjoyment is not. If a collector displays more concern for the grade of their coin than they do for the history of their coin, then they are on the road to becoming an investor. Resist the trend. Be brave. Collect coins and not grades.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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