1 Month as Pocket Piece Experiment - Grades revealed, all came back MS
Mr_Spud
Posts: 5,837 ✭✭✭✭✭
I experimentally carried these modern coins as pocket pieces for a month, rubbed each one every day on both sides with my thumb, and submitted them to PCGS at the last Long Beach Show. I wanted to see if I could get them to grade as AU Everyman
Coins. The grades showed up just today. Guess the Grade I received on them.
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Mr_Spud
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Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
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I will be surprised if all of them straight graded.
Why wouldn't they?
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
Sometimes coins that have been carried in someone's pocket with other coins and keys and such can look like cleaned coins until they tone some.
PCGS graded them all MS. It didn’t work at all to carry them around for a month.
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Mr_Spud
I never guessed, but I initially had a feeling that none of them would grade AU. JA recently made a comment at the FUN symposium about why CAC is disconnected from the idea of "cabinet friction". He said as an experiment, they had someone walk around for 3 months with a MS65 walker in their pocket. His statement was that after 3 months, the coin was still Choice BU.
Edited to add link, listen at the 45 minute mark
Founder- Peak Rarities
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Late to the game, but I thought all were low MS.... a lot depends on pocket contents, how active the individual was, and the length of daily activity..... Variables are endless, as would be the results. Cheers, RickO
Am I understanding this correctly? “Circulation “ as such, was noted as “mint state “. Doesn’t make sense. Ofcourse, the labeling of at vs. nt is fraught with problems so given that, I guess I’m not surprised, just confused. So mint state doesn’t mean uncirculated.
Oh boy 🙃
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
Crack 'em out and carry them for another month or 2 .......
I’m surprised they didn’t get AU - since that’s what they were when you sent them in.
It would be more accurate to say that "uncirculated" doesn't mean "not circulated". As used in the hobby, it has always referred to the state of preservation not the actual journey of the coin. After all, unless a coin came from a mint or proof set, it "circulated". All those MS W Quarters came out of roll searches.
I thought for sure the Ike and the Silver Eagle would get circulated grades, the Sac and President dollars I wasn’t as sure. The Ike I thought was going to get a 53 or so it had so much wear, the Silver Eagle had obvious rub on the high points.
Mr_Spud
I wonder what CACG would grade them.
Oh boy
Not very surprised, although looked like rub to me on some.
these aren't silver and don't wear like silver.
Coins use to work a lot harder than they do today.
I don't know the price spread between a common AU Ike and a low MS graded one. That Ike looks Au to me. But grading it at MS maybe doesn't matter that much so PCGS gives the coin a higher grade. This would be an example of market grading...
I wonder if that is thinking in the grading room on modern coins?
I've noticed over the years that it is tough to get the next higher grade when the price spread is a lot higher on a rare coin...
I don’t think I’m going to try this again. I had planned on asking PCGS to only grade them if they were AU or lower, but the lady at the PCGS booth said they normally only do it the other way around where people can ask to have their coins slabbed only if they meet a minimum grade or higher. She offered to try and write a note but she said she couldn’t guarantee they would follow that instruction. I didn’t want to complicate things so I told her never mind.
Mr_Spud
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
and the other three are bass and nickle
And let me tell you, experiment or not, if I take a ASE in Mint state and put it in my pocket for a WEEK in the pharmacy and on the subway and on my bike it will NOT grade MS. My keys alone will scratch the heck out of that soft silver.
in deed. We barely use them even in the NYC urban core. No more newspapers, and apples are $1.79 a pound and coffee is $3.00 - all paid on the card. People don't even know how to make change and break bills any longer.
I carry some silver pocket pieces all the time in my left front pocket along with my cell phone. I always carry my keys and spending money/change in my right pocket. I’ve been doing that for a very long time, so no key scratches on my pocket pieces. I kept the 4 coins that I submitted in my left pocket with my pocket pieces. Here’s my pocket pieces, only I lost the Stone Mountain a while back, it’ll show back up sooner or later hopefully
Mr_Spud
This goes to show that the graders do not spend enough time with every coin to get the grades correct. If they would use 5- or 10-times magnification, they would surely have seen hairline scratches from circulation or being rubbed and carried in someone's pocket.