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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,777 |
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Valued Member
United States
63 Posts |
I've been going through rolls of Nickels and I'm about to start dimes or pennys. Alot of people on here have been saying to keep all BU or better coins even if they are not key/semi key dates. Does anyone know of a good resource that I can look at to teach me how to grade whether a coin is BU grade or better? Any other advice about grading or what to look for in my rolls?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
BU simply means "brilliant uncirculated" meaning that it is a better-than-average uncirculated coins. Coins in that condition may not be rare overall, but they can be challenging to find via rollsearching since most coins you encounter will have wear.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1150 Posts |
Agreed. Personally, I wouldn't keep EVERY BU coin I found roll searching. That would leave me with rolls and rolls of newer stuff that really isn't worth much more than face value. However, I do keep BU coins if they are 'older'. For instance the other day I found a very nice BU 1939 Jefferson nickel in a roll. However, I have to agree that generally condition is thee most important aspect of a coin's value. I say generally because I'm not referring to valuable scarce dates/mints. |
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Valued Member
 United States
63 Posts |
Thanks for the help. Does anyone know of a good resource to use when grading coins?
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Valued Member
United States
176 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1150 Posts |
Great site for helping grade coins! If you are serious about grading your next step could be the ANA grading standards book. |
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
The thing about the PCGS photograde is that they do not show an example of "BU". I have seen "BU" described as anything from low MS to high AU.
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Valued Member
United States
63 Posts |
Thanks alot for the resources, this should help me out alot.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
As far as I can tell BU or similar grades are dealers come ons to attempt to make you think this coin is in really great shape. If you look at the Red Book, for example, they really don't use that terminology for anything. The start with the G's, F's, VF's, EF's, AU, then all the MS's. Not sure where a BU would fall in there. Makes you wonder if there is a BU-72 or a BU-85 or even higher.  |
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
just carl: Actually "BU" is an older terminology that has just hung around. I think technically "BU" is anything from MS60-MS-70, but I have seen dealers use it to describe an scuffed up AU with luster.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,777 |
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Posted 04/26/2011 04:43 am
