I just went to the Heritage Coins site because it occurred to me that it would be a good place to find highly detailed photos of all the same coin, same year, and same mint, but with different grades. I looked at a number of 1952-S Frankies. There are some that are an MS-66 where the strikes are obviously weaker than most (can't read Pass & Stowe) and other that are lower grades where you can read it and also have full bell lines. Some of what they call toning looks horrible. There is one coin that is "toned" but looks like somthing was sprayed on a small section of it, a long bygone sneeze perhaps. I really wish I could find an official guide, with photos from PCGS and NCG with an explanation of their grading standards. If nothing else convinces a person to buy the coin and not the slab, this certainly should. Steve
Well you can find the books easy enough, both companies have published them. But you have brought up a point about grading that few collectors seem to understand. This same point is why so many collectors have such hard time grading coins accurately. You see, there are several factors to consider when grading a coin. And these factors are seldom all equal on any 2 given coins - but yet the 2 coins can be graded the same. For example, take two Franklin halves, call them A & B. Both coins are graded by the same company as MS66. Now coin A has fewer contact marks than coin B. But coin B has better luster than coin A. The quality of strike on coin A coins is better than that of coin B. But coin B has better eye appeal than coin A. So here we have two different coins, graded the same, but both with different attributes. And the reason they are both graded the same is because the sum total of the various qualities that make up the grade of a coin are the same. Make sense ?
