Posted 03/13/2015 11:07 am
I did know a grader personally. Unfortunately, he's no longer alive.
However, there are no simple answers to most of your questions. My answers here are based on information I picked up from him and general information picked up over time. These answers might not be entirely accurate and could depend on a variety of factors of which I'm making some fairly general assumptions.
You could be paid between 50K-250K (more or less) depending on your knowledge and how long you've been doing it. Graders are assumed to be strong enough to grade most types of coins in a matter of seconds. So, you need to turn over a large amount of coins per hour and be accurate. Your accuracy is rated based on how closely the second grader (who supposedly blindly grades the same coins as you) and the finalizer grade the same coins.
Many graders come in as dealers (and depending on the company, that's a conflict of interest that has to be taken care of prior to grading coins). Graders must take a test grading coins. The better graders are the ones that are consistent. They don't have to be dead on with the grade on the (blinded) holder, just consistent. The grading company can actually help guide a potential grader to tighten their grading to the company's standards if the grading is consistently higher/lower and in a tight range.
They work in a dark room with lamps over each desk. For the most part, they should be able to grade without any magnification (except for problem coins, variety attribution, etc.). They have great camaraderie (this is an assumption based on one grading company I know of) in the grading room and usually get along well in and out of work. There ages will be all over the place. Usually, the junior workers will be in the lower age range. There can be anywhere from a dozen or dozens of graders depending on the size of the company (with companies like PCGS being on the side of a larger employer).
Newer graders are usually expected to grade massive amounts of moderns. Even some of those graders will admit that it can be quite tedious. It's fun to grade a bunch of type stuff, but that's not always a lot of the volume that many graders will have passing through their hands.
However, there are no simple answers to most of your questions. My answers here are based on information I picked up from him and general information picked up over time. These answers might not be entirely accurate and could depend on a variety of factors of which I'm making some fairly general assumptions.
You could be paid between 50K-250K (more or less) depending on your knowledge and how long you've been doing it. Graders are assumed to be strong enough to grade most types of coins in a matter of seconds. So, you need to turn over a large amount of coins per hour and be accurate. Your accuracy is rated based on how closely the second grader (who supposedly blindly grades the same coins as you) and the finalizer grade the same coins.
Many graders come in as dealers (and depending on the company, that's a conflict of interest that has to be taken care of prior to grading coins). Graders must take a test grading coins. The better graders are the ones that are consistent. They don't have to be dead on with the grade on the (blinded) holder, just consistent. The grading company can actually help guide a potential grader to tighten their grading to the company's standards if the grading is consistently higher/lower and in a tight range.
They work in a dark room with lamps over each desk. For the most part, they should be able to grade without any magnification (except for problem coins, variety attribution, etc.). They have great camaraderie (this is an assumption based on one grading company I know of) in the grading room and usually get along well in and out of work. There ages will be all over the place. Usually, the junior workers will be in the lower age range. There can be anywhere from a dozen or dozens of graders depending on the size of the company (with companies like PCGS being on the side of a larger employer).
Newer graders are usually expected to grade massive amounts of moderns. Even some of those graders will admit that it can be quite tedious. It's fun to grade a bunch of type stuff, but that's not always a lot of the volume that many graders will have passing through their hands.
