1930 S/S Lincoln Wheat Cent - RPM-001, FS-501

Very nice pick and coin TB. Personally, I think it is accurately graded at 65.



One of the senior graders at PCGS comes to our local club meetings. He has stated many times the reverse cannot improve a grade. The obverse carries the grade unless the reverse has issues, then the reverse will lower the grade.

I asked his opinion on a raw coin I was considering sending in. He actually looked at the reverse first. The reverse held the coin back in his opinion.

Anyone that takes a PCGS grading class will hear that the reverse can lower a coin's grade (if the reverse has issues).

The reverse can't "rescue" a grade even if the reverse is significantly nicer than the obverse.

The reason the person I referenced earlier looks at the reverse first is to see if there are glaring issues with the reverse. If there are no issues on the reverse, then the obverse carries the grade.

And remember that we, as variety collectors, use loupes looking for minute details. Graders generally use their eyes only, which is why glaring deficiencies to us (under a loupe) are less noticeable to them.

Yep, he only uses the 5x loupe if he perceives an issue. He said 60% to 80% of the coins he looks at don't require anything other than the naked eye. Professional graders take about 5 seconds (or less) per coin.
(This only applies to the numerical grade.)