Grading History via Series Of Short Articles by Mike Sherman

lilolme

I was cleaning up some bookmarks and ran across a couple of these. After re-reading I thought there could be a couple others who might find some interest. So took a little time to organize and paste the links. It is a series (Nov 2010 to April 2011) of short articles by Mike Sherman on the history of coin grading. Starting around the 1850's and going to the time frame of the last article in 2011. Goes through the Mehl, Brown & Dunn, Sheldon, Photograde, ANACS, Heritage NCI to PCGS and many others. Of course some grading side subjects of familiarity are included. Look for that familiar 'grading is subjective' type thing right from the beginning. Oh and some other familiar names.

A History of U.S. Rare Coin Grading
https://www.pcgs.com/news/A-History-Of-Us-Rare-Coin-Grading

Part Two - Standardization Begins 1935-1948
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Two-Standardization-Begins-1935-1948

Part Three - William Sheldon's 70-Point Scale (1949) 'MS 65' is Born
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Three-William-Sheldons-70-point-Scale-1949-Ms-65

Part Four - Martin Brown and John Dunn (1958), The First U.S. Coin Grading Book
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Four-Martin-Brown-And-John-Dunn-1958-The-First

Part Five - Jim Ruddy's Photograde (1970) 'A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.'
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Five-Jim-Ruddys-Photograde-1970-A-Picture-Is-Worth

Part Six - The Coin Dealer Newsletter Leads the Way to Numerical Grading (1973)
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Six-The-Coin-Dealer-Newsletter-Leads-The-Way-To

Part Seven - The ANA Publishes Grading Standards (1977)
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Seven-The-Ana-Publishes-Grading-Standards-1977

Note: CaptHenway (Tom D.) stated in the below comment link, that the MS63 & 67 grades were added before opening for grading on March 1, 1979 (which showed up in the 1981 second edition as stated in the above part seven link).
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/13791977/#Comment_13791977

Part Eight -The Gradeflation of 1983-1986
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Eight-the-Gradeflation-Of-1983-1986

Part Nine - The Professional Coin Grading Service (1986)
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Nine-The-Professional-Coin-Grading-Service-1986

Part Ten - Recent Developments
https://www.pcgs.com/news/Part-Ten-Recent-Developments

Insider3

Thank you! I forgot about these. Mike was right in the middle of it all. I cannot wait to read some of them again.
When I worked at the first TPGS, my boss, Charles Hoskins, was sent a proof of James Halperin's NCI Grading Guide (Commercial grading). After reading it, my grading became screwed up with "commercial" considerations. All the "new" info made me doubt my grading opinions for the next few weeks. Thankfully, we were not doing "commercial grading." I highly recommend the NCI grading guide to learn the basics of commercial grading.