What Does "Details" Mean In Grading?

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When a 3rd party grader looks at the coin they check for it being genuine, grade and any other issues. When a coin is marked details it means the "original" surface is somehow changed/disturbed. This could be damage, cleaning, scratches etc. but since the grade is subjective one 3rd party grader may give one coin a pass while another may not. Even the same coin submitted again may get a details grade one time and not another. What details does is it changes the perception of a coin, for example if I say a coin is AU, you can picture what it looks like, but if I say AU - Details Damaged you don't know.




But having a details coin doesn't mean it doesn't have eye appeal and doesn't mean it's not nice.

Details--one of those arcane numismatic terms that isn't entirely intuitive. Makes for much fun.

"details" or "comment" means that the coin has a problem that does not affect the absolute grade.
For example, a coin with minor damage that it if didn't exist would result in a straight grade.
With the minor damage, the coin retains the grade, but the damage HAS to be commented on in all fairness.

If the problem is major enough, it is possible that the coin may not be graded at all. Such a decision not to grade can be somewhat subjective on the part of the TPGrader.