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 Replies: 11 / Views: 991 |
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Valued Member
United States
189 Posts |
Can someone explain this, I have been going through the Heritage archives comparing my coins to certified coins for grading, mostly early 1800's stuff. I have noticed several things that I don't understand. I usually grade myself using ANA standards, I noticed that the ones graded by PCGS are usually graded more conservatively. And the ones with a provenance ex.Reiver are usually graded leniently. Question is what standard should I use, the standards for the premier numismatic org. in the world or the standards from a company that has a vested interest in manipulating the grade of coins to enhance their reputation and sales. And If you havent figured it out yet I cant stand market grading and slabs. Which standards do you use? Please advise Thanks |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
I use Photograde and my copy is from the 70's. I have a copy of the new ANA grading standards book but I don't agree with it. My grading these days is considered very harsh but only 10 years ago it would have just been considered slightly conservative. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1083 Posts |
 Me Too! My tattered old 1970 J. Ruddy Photograde is still my top grading tool. |
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Valued Member
 United States
189 Posts |
I don't like photograde lousy pix ANA guide has better pix and descriptions. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I use just a guess system. I've been collecting coins for over 60 years and have no idea where some people come up with the grades they have on coins. I go to abaout 3 ot 4 coin shows a month and I find everyone grades coins differently. If slabbed or not, some really strange grades. I'm from the old days of G, F, Unc and Proof only. Now I'm waiting for someone to come up with a 100 point system including decimals. Example: MS-87.1348
I'll stick to my guess work and it is either G, F, Unc or Proof.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
quote:
And the ones with a provenance ex.Reiver are usually graded leniently.
That has been a big complaint about the Jules Reiver Sale a couple years ago. The guy died and his family contracted with Heritage Auctions to sell the collection. I assume that most of what he had was raw since he was an old time collector. Some of the stuff slabbed for the sale was, IMHO, a bit manky shall we say. Quite a few NCS slabs for problem coins and some just plain didn't belong with some of the real rarities of the collection. For instance, a 1938-D Merc dime MS-65 and a damaged 1830 Bust dime, VF details  . I could give other examples but you get the idea- slabbing for the sake of a pedigree. The overall complaint was that Heritage and the Reiver family got a sweetheart of a deal on the grading from NGC and the grades were "pushed" a bit since it was a multi-million dollar collection  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
812 Posts |
I base my grading on the current ' ANA Grading Standards.' I'm not saying that ANA is necessarily right, but I think there ought to be SOME standard, and it seems the logical choice. (Likewise, I don't think it's necessarily right to call a goldfish a "goldfish," but I think there is a real value in having a standard term for that critter swimming in the bowl.) I also use 'Photograde' and 'Making The Grade' (love those big color pictures!) when in doubt. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
quote:
Quite a few NCS slabs for problem coins and some just plain didn't belong with some of the real rarities of the collection. For instance, a 1938-D Merc dime MS-65 and a damaged 1830 Bust dime, VF details.
You're right, the mercury didn't belong.  Edited by Conder101
01/11/2008 11:30 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
I generally go with what blcoinnut did, and compare them to pictures from NGC or PCGS on Heritage. You can't beat the high resolution, full color photographs. And like it or not they have become the industry standard.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1934 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
For my coins and the coins I am going to sell, I use MY standard. Somewhere around the ANA standard with some 'rules' applied that may or may not be part of their standard. When I am buying, I use the market grading standard because this measures what I should pay for the coin. That market grading standard is the average actual grade of a given market grade. Because the market grade at 65 can be my 63 to 66, the two standards don't match and have to be applied independently. When I sell coins, all coins are graded with one standard....mine. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
986 Posts |
Grading of the Reiver coins were all over the map. Some coins were overgraded by 5-10 points, while some were undergraded by 5-10 points. I've seen both. For early type, specifically early halves, I don't use an exact guide, but rather grade from experience and how I've seen specialists in the series grade. Many times for early coins the TPG's have no idea what they are doing, especially when it comes to late die states and certain years notorious for being weakly struck. |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 991 |
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Posted 01/10/2008 09:15 am
