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Replies: 13 / Views: 467 |
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Valued Member
United States
390 Posts |
NEWBIE QUESTION: What if one side of a coin is more worn than the other?How does that effect grading? I can imagine a coin being in, say, a car for decades. The side against carpet is relatively safe from "shmoo" over the years, but the other side is being attacked by sand, grit, liquids, feet, mechanics, even pets. Fast forward, and someone finds said coin and discovers it is a gold Columbiaburbiaville $3 Half-Nelson coin worth a fortune and sends it in to get professionally graded. The carpet side looks almost mint, but the other side looks like El Crapola. What is the coin grader to do?   Am I just being over-imaginative, or does this actually happen with valuable coins?  
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Valued Member
404 Posts |
The coin would receive a details grade. The details letter range should be determined by the weaker side, or the TPG might throw up their arms and send it back in a body bag. In general, old SPINK catalogs address this issue directly, and advise grading both sides, which is why British-sold coins are sometimes found with split grades. Otherwise, if the discrepancy isn't too large, it is advised to go by the slightly weaker side.
Edited by norantyki 02/25/2021 2:33 pm
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Valued Member
United States
390 Posts |
Quote: send it back in a body bag.  Quote: which is why British-sold coins are sometimes found with split grades. AHA, so I am not being too imaginative!
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Moderator

Australia
13583 Posts |
ANACS used to do split grading too, way back when they were first founded. I think it was PCGS entering the TPG market int he 1980s with a single grade or "net grading" that saw ANACS stop that practice. Yes, it is possible for a coin that is worn more on one side than the other to be legitimately graded (ie. not returned with a details grade). The convention is that the obverse of a coin contributes 80% of the net grade. So if a coin is low VF on the obverse and low EF on the reverse, it will net-grade in the EF or perhaps high VF range; if an otherwise identical coin is low VF on the obverse and low EF on the reverse, that coin will end up with a low VF grade.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community

United States
4584 Posts |
Quote: British-sold coins are sometimes found with split grades. Polish, too. I recently won a coin graded VF/VF-.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2374 Posts |
You mean like this?  
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1078 Posts |
Or like this poor quarter... 
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Valued Member
404 Posts |
@tdziemia - some of the old boys certainly do :)
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Pillar of the Community

United States
4584 Posts |
Quote: Or like this poor quarter... Yikes no! That's body bag material. No grade.
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Valued Member
United States
390 Posts |
YIKES those photos are almost what I was thinking! Actually... WORSE!
I wasn't sure about if one side was more important than the other, but knowing MOST people look at he front BUT knowing there are "two sides to every coin" I wasn't sure.
Obviously, any collectible with imperfection to one area has far less value, BUT knowing that there are some very rare coins out there I was curious just how much people can overlook.
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Valued Member
United States
390 Posts |
HEY FOLKS, I just accidentally ran into this Ebay listing and decided to share because of the 1941 half dollar... notice the back is either totally missing or worn away! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-4-C...373472876189I'll be the Devil's Advocate and say that coin like this fits into this topic because I want to know more about it AND how, if it is an error, HOW do ERROR coins with different-grade sides get handled by graders? Once a coin moves into "error" territory, do "good sides" still factor into any sort of grade?
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Valued Member
United States
124 Posts |
I'm going to venture a guess it was glued onto a surface at some point. It may have been sanded beforehand to create a better bond. You'd want to check the weight (if you bought it) to see how much silver is missing.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20180 Posts |
Imagine a coin graded as MS-60/G-4 
just carl
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Valued Member
United States
390 Posts |
Quote: Imagine a coin graded as MS-60/G-4 WOW you are generous!  
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Replies: 13 / Views: 467 |
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