Sheldon Scale labels for lower grades - BS-1 vs PO-1
Sapyx
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It's my understanding that the original Sheldon scale had, as the three lowest grades, Basal State-1, Fair-2 and Very Fair-3.
The modern scale equivalents are PO-1, FR-2 and AG-3. All three top tier TPGs agree on this.
I'm trying to document the transition.
I learned Sheldon grading from the 1983 Charleton catalogue (Canadian): BS-1, Poor-2 and AG-3. So it seems that "Very Fair" was dropped quite early in the story - understandable, given that the logical abbreviations for "Very Fair" and "Very Fine" are identical.
But I'm trying to trace just when "BS-1" became "Poor-1". The Wikipedia article implies this happened in the 1970s with the adoption of Sheldon grading nomenclature by the ANA.
I'm also wondering if it has anything to do with the rise of "BS" having an alternative, and entirely derogatory, colloquial meaning.
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Comments
I have a 1977 Charlton and it uses the term Poor so it must have changed sometime before then.
You could look at the grading descriptions in the Red Book as a starting point. My '77 or '78 edition already used it. I have older ones, but not with me.
When you can tell the Type of coin but the date is worn away, that’s Basal state. Liberty and shield nickels excel at this.
In Sheldon, Basal State was defined as being "identifiable and unmutilated," including the variety, but not necessarily a readable date. This implies a state of decrepitude beyond BS, but as it would probably have a numerical grade of 0, according to Sheldon, it would have no value.
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My recollection of the late 70's definition for "Poor" is "clear enough to identify".
"Fair" was something like "date and letters readable".
I still have an early large cent (somewhere) given to me by my step grandmother in 1975. It's presumably "basal state" and maybe worse. Nothing is visible on the reverse and the obverse has partial outlines of the draped bust type but hard to actually confirm.