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 Replies: 21 / Views: 3,297 |
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Valued Member
United States
58 Posts |
Not sure where to put this, but either US or foreign coins, rare, antiquities, particular metal type/ etc that either have been difficult to accurately grade or are ungradeable?
Anyone knowledgeable about this I would appreciate input.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12477 Posts |
Is there any more specific area you are interested in? That is quite a general question. In some cases, attribution is more difficult than actual grading.
In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Valued Member
 United States
58 Posts |
Im thinking more newer low mintage colored coins in particular. Lot and lots out there. I picked up a few recently(I know many dislike or not recommend them for various reasons), but I like them.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
The gold 2.5/5 dollar Indians are really hard to grade. Washington quarters can be difficult for type collectors. It really just depends what someone is used to as well. For example grading moderns is really hard for people that don't really pay attention to them, gold is hard to grade for people who are used to silver/copper/clad. C and D gold and bust half's are difficult for most people to indenting strike issues vs wear/abuse. Really anything known for strike issues gives people trouble figuring out what is and isn't wear, toned coins can be hard too with heavy toning trying to read through it. Personally I find most of the colored coins to be pretty easy to grade. A large portion is usually taken up with the color and imperfections stand out more. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12057 Posts |
Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis |
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Valued Member
United States
58 Posts |
I know this may be a stupid topic, but I bought this coin couple years ago with no intention to sell or grade, but It appealed to me as a possible gift to a co worker of mine..  total mintage of 600 and maybe I got ripped off, maybe not. But Ive never seen a new square colored coin with this art on it. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7940 Posts |
That's a coin? Call me a stodgy traditionalist with a stunted imagination.  I will admit that it's a neat object, but I would rather have a print of that famous Cezanne to hang on a wall. On grading ... I think there are more coins that are difficult than are easy. All you have to do is post a picture here, and see that you will not get 5 identical opinions. Because grading is a manual (visual) as opposed to an automated process. Only when you can pop a coin into an instrument and get a grade will it stop being difficult. I think older coins before the era of automation pose some problems others have mentioned above. I see a lot of medieval coins at auction these days with AU and MS grades that make me scratch my head, but I am not a trained numismatist, and the professional graders are. Edited by tdziemia
07/03/2018 07:48 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Ancients ate extremely difficult to grade, to the point that only a few grading companies even try to use a numerical scale. And that's for Roman and Greek coins; other types like Indian punchmarked coins are even tougher because of their primitive minting, and the fact that we have so few uncirculated issues to compare it to.
Non-metal coins are also extremely tough, as they wear differently. Thinking of the plastic Transnistria coins, I'm not sure I have ever seen one graded.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I wonder if asking the different grading services that same question would get any replies at all. And if they did, what would it be.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Wow that's a tough question . I would say the chocolate coins would be the hardest to grade . Just don't attempt it in hot weather .  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Gold BLP $2 1/2 and $5's are difficult for me.
Nevertheless, I just love this interesting and different approach to coin design.
Some foreign coins made out of hard metals, such Italian coins made from stainless steel, can be difficult to grade.
Some modern coins with letters or characters only, can be difficult to grade accurately, because the wear on very many high points of the characters is shared evenly, and the fields are thus better protected against wear.
For an entirely different set of reasons, some ancient coins can be difficult to grade, because there are so many different factors of varying importance from coin to coin (not relevant to modern coins), that make a single grading statement very difficult.
In these sorts of cases, a loose general grade can be offered, but complete with many comments that relate to different aspects of an individual coin's condition. Grading in these cases cannot be absolute, and grading opinions on some particular ancient coins can vary, and all of those opinions can still be legitimate.
You will not see many threads asking for grading opinions for ancient coins here in the CCF, but auctioneers still quite rightly have to grade them, and make a reasonably good job of it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3469 Posts |
I get close to consensus on most US coins submitted here for grading except Peace dollars. That series just gives me fits! |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
The tricky-to-grade coins are usually the ones with a flat and/or incuse design. The Swedish incuse copper series from the 1960s comes to mind as a type that has both. [EDIT: the "flat" includes the lettering-only designs common in Eastern Europe, regardless of their actual flatness. I also agree about hard-metal coins, though it's not so much that they're tricky to grade as that they just don't really get any significant wear.] The only US coins with incuse designs that I know of were the Indian half and quarter eagle. The flattest is probably the Wyoming quarter. I agree about the near-impossibility of meaningfully grading ancient (and medieval) coins, however. Edited by january1may
07/03/2018 09:32 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8715 Posts |
The Indian Head Quarter Eagle and Half Eagles can be difficult to grade due to the incuse design. Peace dollars are also known to be difficult to grade due to strike issues. Buffalo nickels can also be difficult to grade. As stated above, grading ancient coins to the exact number grade is basically impossible. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
Thinking of the plastic Transnistria coins, I'm not sure I have ever seen one graded. I've seen NGC ones, I'm not sure if PCGS would do them or not though |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3479 Posts |
I think it was already pointed out but capped bust halves are by far the most challenging. So many strike issues spread throughout the years that it's almost impossible to be accurate without a book of graded examples by date and variety.
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Replies: 21 / Views: 3,297 |
Posted 07/03/2018 01:55 am
