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Message:: [QUOTE="Andrew McCabe, post: 3315522, member: 90666"]I tend to think of how an 18th century collector would consider FDC. Finest possible condition style strike and surfaces. But an 18th century collector would without hesitation classify a simply beautiful coin whose beauty could not be exceeded as FDC even if it has a little wear. FDC is not a condition or state of wear. It's a measure of absolute beauty for a specific coin issue. I've a reasonable number of coins from a collection of 800-900 that I'd classify as FDC. Finest possible considering all aspects. Some have a very little wear. Every collector of modern coins knows about condition of wear. An amazingly high proportion don't recognize anything about style of die engraving. That requires an artistic sensibility. No coin from badly styled dies (relative to how good dies cam get) can ever be considered FDC. In my collecting area, Roman Republican, there is often a "best die" or "masterpiece die" for a given issue. A master often engraved only a few dies, and lower skilled engravers then engraved larger numbers in worse style. So to understand what FDC means one needs to understand the artistry of a specific coin issue. A beautiful coin from the best style engraver and well centered and with perfect patina and a little wear can be a Fleur de Coin. FDC is a connoisseurship category. It's not a grade in my view.[/QUOTE]