A Question About Uncirculated Vs Circulated

@bill069 "The line between AU-58 and MS-60 is so thin that any two individuals may grade a single coin differently.
Until we use A.I. for grading the subjectiveness will come into play."

100% agree; AI might help but is that really where we need to go? I personally dislike the term 'uncirculated'. The only coins I believe it for are collector sets that come encased in plastic and don't ever hit a cash register. For routine collectors I would argue that it's outdated and that the term 'mint state', which does not assume that a coin has never been used in a transaction - it's just about what kind of shape the thing is in.

Could be but then there will be other companies that offer artisanal, bespoke coin grading by actual humans - and they will charge a premium for the service!

@KauaiHawaiiGuy

YES! I would rather buy a decent AU-55 over an MS-60 almost any day. It's a meaningless numerical up-tick. The whole Sheldon numbering system needs to be revised.....

The Morgan you posted graded MS-60 because of the abundance of bag marks all over the coin. However, you look at the hair (one of the first places to show wear on Morgans), you will see that all the detail is still there, thus the coin is uncirculated. Yes, many AU-58 coins look much better than coins graded MS-60. In fact, when I was learning how to grade, I heard AU-58 being described as an MS-63 or MS-64 with a little bit of wear.