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 Replies: 9 / Views: 2,307 |
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Valued Member
United States
320 Posts |
So I received a Krause catalog for Christmas and am going through my world coins, looking at the values. I notice the grading goes from "F/VF/XF" straight to "Uncirculated." I stink at grading, even the US coins that form the bulk of my collection, but a number of coins I'm thinking to myself "that's better than XF, but not quite uncirculated..." and in some coins the values jump tremendously between xf and uncirc condition. I have also read anecdoted here about how europeans laugh at our numberic grading system, trying to be so precise... so it seems to be different--- but how? Is there just no AU in world coins, or is "their" AU called straight uncirculated? thanks in advance for any insight. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Forn coin grades are stricter than the US. Many coins we would call unc only rate xf elsewhere.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I think that ONE of the reasons why there may be a big price jump between 'XF' and 'Uncirculated' could be that some coins are issued for sale to collectors and may be scarcer, especially if they are packaged,
where as an 'XF' example has been issued for, and has been, circulated.
I think that the Sheldon system is fine for grading ABOVE the lowest MS (60) grade, where there can be a big variation in prices, between an unworn coin covered in nicks, and an example that has been perfectly struck and in pristine condition.
Personally, I would prefer to see an internationally universal system that retains MS scales above 60, and ignores numerical condition below MS. Delete the word 'Uncirculated', and substitute 'MS' (for Mint State) instead.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Numerical grades seem to provide something that doesn't exist. There's a big difference between accuracy and precision. Numerical grades promote the illusion that a MS62.47 is provably better than a MS62.35, and that we can discern the difference to two places past the decimal point. The problem arises where even if one TPG could consistently make such distinctions (they can't--see crack out), a different TPG may come up with a completely different number. One famous coin (1913 V, IIRC) ping ponged between NGC and PCGS over the years, gaining 20 points in the process. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
686 Posts |
Poor strikes have a lot to do with it, and low pops. My gold has always come back higher than I thought.
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Valued Member
 United States
320 Posts |
What I'm thinking of doing is trading off my world coins, ideally for US 90% or to fill holes... was trying to assess the value of them but quickly realized I am not up to the task.
What I'm doing instead is picking out anything with a value per coin of $5 or more in XF condition...I'll list them, if I get someone interested THEN we'll negotiate on what the appropriate grade/value/etc might be.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
The beauty of the Internet is it's so easy to provide pix.
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Moderator
 Australia
16873 Posts |
The Krause catalogues are printed in America by an American company, so they use American grading standards; in theory, an "EF" in Krause for a world coin should mean the same as an EF for an American coin. Though sometimes, the valuations supplied to Krause by their informers and contributors are based on local grading systems.
As for the question, "What to do about coins in "in between" grades", if you don;t have a specialist coin catalogue from that country, then the only answer is to wing it. If I particularly need to assign a book value to an aUnc coin, I take a guess at about 1/3 of the distance between EF and Unc for a typical circulation coin series, perhaps halfway for NCLT or other series where Unc coins are relatively common.
Or, if you want to get all mathematical, plot the prices for VF, EF and Unc as a curve on a graph, and interpolate a price on the curve halfway between EF and Unc. Not sure the number you'd get back would be much more reliable than a guess.
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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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
What's my coin worth?
Whatever the top buyer is willing to pay when you decide to sell.
Ask anyone who sold on 9/11/01
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Valued Member
United States
172 Posts |
@SAP-
What are the European grades and definitions? Is there no AU grade in the European system?
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Replies: 9 / Views: 2,307 |
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Posted 01/09/2012 07:42 am
