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Message:: [QUOTE="900fine, post: 314372, member: 6036"]I hear ya. In a sense, it's a "tail shakes dog" scenario - in essence, market value drives the numerical grade. The market evolved such that there is an increase in price as the number increases, and that makes sense ... up to a point. It fails at the AU58 / MS60 borderline. Probably more sensible would be one range of values for circulated coins and a second range of values for MS coins, with an overlap such that AU58 prices are higher that MS60. I'll always wonder how much the Red Book drove the status quo (i.e. MS > AU). It always shows AU pieces as less valuable than MS pieces - which many feel is not realistic. It treats numerical grade vs. value as a single continuum, which it's not. Whether warranted or not, the Red Book has a very significant place in the psyche of many collectors.[/QUOTE]