Do you believe you can accurately grade a coin based on an Internet Image??
keets
Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
I can't make it any more simple than that.
Do you believe you can accurately grade a coin based on an Internet Image??
This is a public poll: others will see what you voted for.
2
Comments
Absolutely, I do it all the time.
Accurately? No.
Ballpark: Yes.
peacockcoins
Braddick is spot one . . . . .
Drunner
I’d say about 95% accurate. It’s that 5% that I have to worry about.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Depends a lot on the quality of the images and the level of wear. Luster is often hard to judge from images, but that's not as important for grading (well-)circulated coins.
This and it needs to be a very large park🤓🙀
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
Circulated? I'm very confidant. Mint state? Most of the time. But down to the + or - level or between 66 & 67 or 67 & 68 or 68 & 69 not so much. So I guess that's kind of an ambivalent answer. I just as easily could have picked "no."
Yes, I can accurately grade it. May not be able to convince anyone else of my grade, but my standards are all that matter since I am the one deciding whether or not a coin is worth a particular price TO ME.
Yes, I believe I can get an accurate grade for the series I collect with pictures that are well taken and not intentionally deceptive.
you guys who have checked "yes" should remember that the GTG threads are in the archives!!!
Keets, you ask a question and I Honestly answered your question and as of now, you and only you left a "LOL"
Kinda uncool to ask a question and laugh at honest responses.
Perhaps you just do not know how to grade.
You summed up what I would say in less words.
Yes, you can get close with a good photo, but the coin in hand will always be better.
I can't as easy as I could 20 years ago. I don't know if the sellers got better at taking deceptive pictures or my eyes got worse!
I think it is not possible to accurately grade based on any high quality photo. Luster not easy to discern. Strike not always easy to determine especially on peace dollars. Contact marks over or under magnified and not always visible. With the protection of pcgs and ngc one can try and buy coins off photos if they have a return option
I suppose it gets to a more theoretical question about the definition of "grading". Even top grading companies like PCGS are not 100% consistent, though very close. According the strictest definition of grading, even PCGS cannot grade with the coin in hand. According to very liberal definitions of grading, most anyone can give an opinion on the condition of a coin based on pictures.
I could accurately grade a coin from a pencil sketch.
Not only grade, but eye appeal.
Sometimes I get it right, other times, not at all. Especially with toned coins and lustrous coins.
"Bongo hurtles along the rain soaked highway of life on underinflated bald retread tires."
~Wayne
Who's grade?
PCGS
NGC
CAC
or the one that really matters to me?
Who's Image?
In the case of a TrueView, I can be 90% confident that I've made the correct choice for the money.
Market grading is after all just associating an opinion number (grade) to an even less permanent number (price)
My Saint Set
I have been fooled several times because of image "shenanigans", as Joey29 said, I judge by the return policy.
I always base my judgement from the images of the coin on the internet.
I never ever look at the return policy.
I believe everything I see/read on the internet! Especially TrueView is so absolute reliable. (Guess it's a True View Booster shot)
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
No
Bought coins described as low as vf that were unc so I’d say yes.
I have deciphered coin images in photoshop many times ....
If the internet image includes a picture of the PCGS slab, I can accurately estimate the PCGS grade...
Ballpark...yes
Accurately...no
Just to be clear, are you saying that you can detect problems like small wipes, rim filing, tooling, etc., from an image?
I seriously doubt it. If you're looking at a coin in a holder with the grade, you can get a pretty good idea if the coin is
nice for the grade or not. It's not clear from Keets question whether the image is of raw coins or a slabbed coins with the grade. And I assume that you mean PCGS or NGC's grading standards.
Since the pandemic started, I have to do it constantly to bid in auctions and from dealers. It does not work for Proof coins and very high grade material, but for most all circulated material, hammered British and imperial Romans, I have done quite well.
Over past year and a half, I’ve had only one return on a retail purchase and no auction surprise “nightmares.” Going to shows is far better, but, given the circumstances, this is what I have to do.
I want close-up pictures of the whole coin. I hate the slab and coin pictures. They make the picture of the coin smaller and less significant. Unless, you have a Heritage type system where you can get close-ups of the coin via magnification, total slab pictures prompt me to pass out of hand.
Of course the pictures should show the slab and close ups of the coin...
@ErrorsOnCoins,
You do realize that your niche in the market/hobby is quite unique and unlike what the rest of us do….. right?
Often I can, so I said yes. I've gotten quite used to seeing Heritage slab shots and I'm pretty good at those. More often that that, however, I can tell from a picture if I can't or shouldn't grade the coin from that picture.
As a general rule of thumb, however, I'd say that one should not grade coins relying on only pictures.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
The OP is about grading coins and error coins are graded on the same 70 point scale so I do not see your point.
My point is that you buy and sell successfully in a small niche area of the hobby. When it comes to errors, the grade (condition) is important, but it’s usually a secondary consideration behind the nature of the error. You’re not likely to badly misjudge the size of a clip from a photo and the exact grade of a brockage isn’t really all that important. To the rest of us, the grade is everything, at least when it comes to determining price and value.
What!?
Error coin images can't be manipulated?
I don't see your point.
Just look at many of the guess the grade threads. Some have guesses all over the map. Internet photos are usually worse than the GTG photos posted here.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
No... One may get a reasonable idea, generally. However, coin photography can be incredibly misleading as has been shown here many times. This can be intentional or due to the poor skills of the photographer. Cheers, RickO
Many folks take a stab at GTG outside their area of expertise.
I wouldn't expect a EAC guy to be able to grade saints extremely well.
My Saint Set
@ReadyFireAim i take stabs outside my area all the time.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
The OP asked if I felt I could accurately grade from a photo--not if I could accurately guess what a TPG would label it. For MY purposes, ie, I wish to purchase it at a particular price then yes, I can.
Need a "Sometimes" option.
But you don't know until you see image and coin in person.
Grade 100 coin images, then the coins themselves. I'll bet that sometimes you will come up with the same grade and sometimes you won't. So, sometimes is probably the correct answer.