What a Lincoln cent is supposed to look like

Actually the grading scales are based from the top down, not the bottom up. And it could be no other way.

 

Well to begin with Mike I have never said that I agree with the 69 grade. I merely said that this coin is what they are supposed to look like. So trying to explain the 69 grade is an effort in futility. But to humor you, just because I like ya so much, I will offer this. They gave it a 69 because know they will never see another that is its equal, this one is as close to a 69 as there will ever be. And as you know, there is nothing that NGC or PCGS like better than to throw jabs at each other by having the finest known examples in their slabs. Thus the grade.

 

I wasn't trying to bait you into anything. But there is no way that grading standards can start at the bottom and go up. For one thing, if you start at the bottom how do you know what details are missing ? You don't start with a blank planchet, add a tiny amount of detail and say this is G - and then go from there. Nor do you cover it with contact marks and then erase some. Or have no luster whatsoever and add some.

You start at the top, the very top. You take what a coin is supposed to look like based on the design and grade it downwards from there. That is how the standards are created.

I will say this much though. When one is actually grading a coin, it is imperative that the coin must first meet all of the criteria of the lower standards first, and only then can check the coin to see if it meets the standards of the next higher grade. When the coin fails to meet the standards of the next higher grade, then you know have found the correct grade for the coin. I have explained this many, many times in the past.

Now if that is what you are trying to say, fine we agree. The point I was making in my original post is this. This coin serves as an example to show folks what the detail, luster, strike etc etc is supposed to look like. For it is only by knowing what it is supposed to look like that one can judge what is missing on other coins.