Grading Criteria - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 9 / Views: 1,424
nova numismatic Valued Member Canada 60 Posts	Posted 07/30/2011 11:07 am Is it important to have a coin professionally graded? Or do collectors like to judge for themselves? What does it cost to have a coin graded? And who does this? I live on Vancouver Island. Is there a place that grades coins here on the coast? Thanks. Report this Post to the Staff

tfred Pillar of the Community Canada 627 Posts	Posted 07/30/2011 11:48 am Hi Nova, me again. Coins don't necessarily need to be professionally graded. Most collectors grade there own coins. Mainly because it cost money to grade a coin, anywhere between $10 and $50 a coin, depending on the grading company. You may want to have some high end coins graded. Anything over $500, or $1000 or $5000. Depends on the individual Coins are graded on a scale of 1-70 and the grades are good (G), very good (VG), fine(F), very fine(VF) extra fine (EF or XF), about uncirculated (AU), and mint state(MS). A good coin book to have would be the Charlton coin guide. Its put out annually and list all canadian coins and their values. It also gives a description of the different grades. A coin site that I like to use for grading coins because they include pictures, is this one here... http://www.coinoisseur.com/GradingCoins.html Report this Post to the Staff
nova numismatic Valued Member Canada 60 Posts	Posted 07/30/2011 1:31 pm Thanks again tfred, appreciate your feedback, looking for any direction right now. Will check out that link and see about getting the Charlton coin guide. Report this Post to the Staff
nova numismatic Valued Member Canada 60 Posts	Posted 07/30/2011 1:36 pm More on coin guides: I have been using the Coins and Canada site as a reference so getting a rough idea of the lay of the land. Report this Post to the Staff
tamarin Pillar of the Community Canada 576 Posts	Posted 07/30/2011 10:06 pm With experience you should be able to grade your own coins with some accuracy. I'm old school. I love raw coins. I do use a grading agency like ICCS for mint state or scarce coins - not to clarify the grade, but to make a more pricy coin easier to sell to knowledgeable collectors. Report this Post to the Staff
nova numismatic Valued Member Canada 60 Posts	Posted 07/31/2011 1:39 pm thanks tamarin, I was pretty intimidated by this whole grading aspect of coin collecting, wondering how anyone could possibly afford to have each and every coin professionally graded, this makes much more cents (couldn't resist!) Report this Post to the Staff
Tam Valued Member United States 200 Posts	Posted 08/01/2011 7:13 pm LOL, it's not as intimidating as you think, nova. While Charlton's is a good source, Haxby focuses hard on the obverse of Canadian coinage, using the wear on crown and jewels on earlier issues, hair or bands on later issues. Granted, this is somewhat simplified, but you can use several examples, and get within two grades easily enough fast. That, for more common mintages should suffice, but for any rare dates, it would be best to do the above for your own benchmark, and maybe send one or two in to see how the "pros" judge the coin. That's how I do it, it works well for me. And, I gain knowledge at every step. I do suggest a nice loupe at least, say around 8x or 10x. Report this Post to the Staff
nova numismatic Valued Member Canada 60 Posts	Posted 08/01/2011 8:20 pm thanks Tam! 'scuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a loupe? I'm thinking a magnifying glass? Report this Post to the Staff
tfred Pillar of the Community Canada 627 Posts	Posted 08/01/2011 9:43 pm loupe = magnifying glass. Dont get the big ones like Sherlock Holmes uses. Get a small one that fits in your pocket. Report this Post to the Staff
nova numismatic Valued Member Canada 60 Posts	Posted 08/01/2011 10:54 pm thanks tfred, there is one around here somewhere but I may need a loupe to find it! Report this Post to the Staff
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