Earle42, thanks for the link to the No FG farce. The grading of coins seems to be a combination of measuring a coin's technical aspects (number of scratches, nicks, carbon deposits, etc. and their severity) along with comparison of known sample groups from the same mintage date which may be both technical and subjective (a coin's aesthetic appeal). Lee Brewer points out in his white paper on the topic that so called expert coin graders are no more than good marketers of their products and services. This sort of reminds me of how figure skating judges determine the merit of skater's performance. There are multiple topics that are assessed, sometimes over a period of days, to determine a final score but its still relies upon subjectivity and a creep of bias that seems to follow. Anyhow, goods stuff. The new guy's first post!