1926 S Oregon Commemorative For Grading (Ex PCGS)

Nice original G-6, very nice!

Tnank you for the many kind words @nickelsesrcher and for offering up your grade. I know you and a handful of others have seen more of these worn Commems than PCGS graders combined - except maybe David Hall (as legend would have it)

I apologize for the rotated images from my phone that I cropped in photo editing on my laptop.

To my eye the F15 specimen has more wear and is equally problem-free (both have a nick on the wagon) and equally attractive.

If the F15 is correct, then the current specimen should be at least VF20, posssibly VF25.

So far we have G6 and VG8 opinions, apparently disregarding the wizardly expert grade-revealed specimen And, disregarding by 3 and 4 grade steps! Hmm.

Will give this a few more days for others to opine before the reveal.

I've always been loyal to PCGS as the best (though fallible, and sometimes profiteering TPG - see sig line, and against advice, with fear and trepidation have two orders sitting there right now, 8 vouchers which I had to use before expiring and 6 others in economy)

(I'll accept an "OK, PCGS blew this one'' or "Most PCGS graders have little experience in this arena, so their technical grading skills do not meet professional standards and should defer these for Presidential review") They could even photograph these to build a database for grader and collector education. However, they apparently have become more cartel-minded and the education to forums or similar format. David Hall used to care (or seemed to - for a while on Sunday nights he would post on coin memories and anecdotes on areas other than the 6 and 7 figure coins) about the little fish - or maybe the lowball Registry concept was yet another ...... rant aborted

@nickelsearcher My CAPS album is getting close to a proper update on that thread.

You know we could start dozens of threads like this, but I think this one will likely be the last one for a while. Getting it out of my system

Love the circulation cameo.

VG-8

Do you agree with the grade? Compared to some of the other PCGS graded ones you've posted, this one actually seems reasonable.

Hi, yes, I would say they got this one 'right.' I would have sympathy for G6-VG10 if a grader has been looking at MS69 vs MS70 for 8 hrs and gets this one thrust at him/her at 5PM on a Friday afternoon

The F15 pictured above is at least 3 steps overgraded (G6-VG8) and the F15 posted in the other thread is VF-something.

I'm in it for the look not the grade with 98% of my coins.

It's been a bit of and I needed to get out of my system with the lowball coins, because of the double standard PCGS has when it comes to grading. Playing by two sets of rules, when PCGS lays out the rules - with pictures! (albeit Morgan dollars) - says they are going to use these rules when grading coins.

It is maddening that a perceived lowball coin to a grader is graded by the higher side if the design doesn't wear evenly, and a key date coin is graded by the lower side, ie has to be "all there" to get the technical grade.

In math terms, a perceived lowball coin graded 2.2 gets rounded up to AG3 and a key date (expensive) coin at 2.9 gets rounded down to a FR2.

What started off as mostly authenticating a genuine vs counterfeit coin, and putting it in a relatively safe environment has mushroomed into an industry within itself.

"Grading is subjective" mantra is like fingernails-on-chalkboard to me. Don't want to beat that dead horse again as I think Basebal21 and I got that straight on the other thread. It does certainly get more subjective at the very low (PO1) and very high end of technical grades, and then the TPGs introduced the concept of market grading, and started offering $$ guarantees and the like - which factor in eye appeal and more subjective components.

Thanks for reading. One thing I like about this series is how with some honest wear, some of these designs become more interesting (subjective) and how a VG8 and VF35 of the same design can both be side by side in an album with aesthetic appeal.

. I also like to see comments like this.

I know I come across as having a grudge against tpgs, but in all honesty I actually do like them (some more than others obviously).

I just feel that some people get caught up and think that the tpgs are the say all authority of collecting. Like for example, someone who focuses more on what the label says and doesn't even form their own thoughts on said coin.

Obviously I'm not saying go spend AU-58+ money on an AU details coin, what I really want is for collectors to do their own research and actually be able to, for example, I.D. problem coins before sending them out and paying a TPG to tell them something that can sometimes take very little research to learn for themselves.