...with intermediate grades? I do not submit coins for entombment, and rarely buy slabbed coins, but I have personally never seen a non-standard intermediate grade on a PCGS slab. When did they start doing this? 1921-S Walking Liberty Half, PCGS Graded G06
i can't answer "when" they started using the lesser known numbers, but I believe some of the numbers they use are as follows... Poor-1 Fair-2 About Good-3 (abbreviated as AG-3) Good-4 to 6 (G-4, G-6) Very Good-8 or 10 (VG-8, VG-10) Fine-12 or 15 (F-12, F-15) Very Fine-20, 25, 30, 35 (VF-20, etc.) Extremely Fine-40 or 45 (EF-40, EF-45) AU-50, 53, 55, or 58 (AU-50, etc.) MS-60 continuously through MS-70 (MS-60, MS-61, MS-62, etc.) Proofs are graded the same as Mint State coins, 60 through 70, and are as follows: Proof-60, Proof-61, etc. An impaired or rubbed Proof can be assigned a lower grade, such as Proof-50 or Proof-58. I'm sure all that is subject to change, as the owners (and investors) of the company see fit.
That is a normal grade.....when grading a coin Good it can be a 4 or 6....as Jody posted above. Speedy
Choice grades for good, very good, and fine are intermediate in terms of ANA Standards. I like to "keep it simple" and when a coin is of such low quality by definition of the grade itself, I don't see any real meaning behind an intermediate grade. Just like the '+' and PQ designations, what is '+' or PQ to one person, is not to another (thus a result of the subjectiveness in grading). ANA Standards run frm AG to Fine as 3, 4, 8, 12 being About Good, Good, Very Good, and Fine, with Choice grading for Very Fine (VF20, VF30), Extremely Fine (EF40, EF45), and About Uncirculated (AU50, AU55), with the addition of very choice for About Uncirculated (AU58). I always thought PCGS designated the ANA standard grades, as I have never before seen intermediate grades of G6, VG10, F15, VF25, VF35, or AU53 PCGS slabbed coin before today. I am fully familiar with intermediate grades and that is one reason why I don't personally utilize them, because I believe it is better to designate by reference in the grade, for instance "Good 4, full rims" as opposed to "Good 6", or "Very Good 8, full LIBERTY" as opposed to "Very Good 10". There could possibly be a number of things that could make the coin "choice" over "typical", but using an intermediate grade in these cases, especially when the coin is in such a low grade to begin with, does little to describe the difference between the choice and typical of the grade. When you begin to enter the higher circulated grades, the difference between choice and typical becomes rather clear, and are in fact, usually more pronounced, just like the difference between Good and Very Good. Then again, I haven't checked for actual changes with the ANA Standards for ten years, so maybe they encourge choice low grades now But, if anyone happens to have an idea of about what year PCGS started designating grading using low grade intermediates, the help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I think a more important question would be..." what year did the A.N.A. change it's grading standards?". The answer would be... They changed their standards with the the latest edition of their "Official A.N.A. Grading Standards for United States Coins" book.
PCGS has used those grades since the beginning. So has the ANA by the way - they just don't list them in the descriptive text.
