PCGS PRDCAM Grading - Help for a New Member!

FrattLaw

I've just recently returned to this great hobby and it has already become sort of an obsession for me - to the great dismay of my wife. So far I have lurked on these boards and have tried to learn as much as possible from those with years of experience. Currently I am collecting modern proofs - Ikes, SBAs and Sacs. I have already registered two sets. So far all my coins have been purchased on EBay and for the most part I have been completely satisfied with them.

Now I would like to try to complete my sets with coins I have found and submitted to PCGS (the Hunt). The only problem is the grading. What for the most part seperates a PR68 from a PR69 and a CAM and a DCAM? Is this something I can see with simple magnification or do I need to buy a microscope? If I purchase individual coins how can I tell if they have been dipped? Does dipping make a difference to PCGS when grading? What about toning / haze? Or should all of my submissions come from proof sets that I have painstakingly searched?

and if anyone really knows can a single collector even acheive a PR70DCAM or is that grade only reserved for PCGS big time clients ?

keithdagen

Welcome,

I'm an MS coin guy, so can't be much help to you. PCGS will give out a 70DC to any coin worthy, regardless of submitter. On the MS side, I know many who have got MS-70's, but PCGS is very strict with the PR-70DC designation now. 90%+ of all 70DC's currently graded would grade 69DC on a regrade. The coin has to be absolutely flawless, which is extremely rare.

Russ

Welcome aboard, got JFKs?

Russ, NCNE

GQ

Hi...I collect both pr68dcam and pr69dcam late date Jeffersons. Like most collectors I use a 10X and 20X glass. Sometimes it is obvious because a small micro scuff or tick on a flawless coin will drop it down to pr68dcam........but for the most part a large majority of my pr68dcams are every bit as nice if not nicer than the 69dcam. A proof 67DCAM is very obvious; i.e. it will show deffinate ticks or irregularities on the cheek or fields(I am sure alot of these have been stacked in tubes). IMO the only different aside from a micro tick is the 69's are more brilliant in the fields. If not for the registry points I would collect PR68DCAM only. I am not an expert yet but like all the collectors on this forum I have 100's of hours studying these coins....and this is what I observe.

Enjoy your coins......

NICKEL TRIUMPH 750...EARLY PROOF JEFFERSONS...TOP 10 BY A THREAD

CarlWohlforth

Will you be hunting Ikes? Try to find them haze free. The deep cameo coins have very frosty devices and the fields are like mirrors. The PR 69 DCAM should have perfect, watery fields that you feel like you can dive in. They should reflect images clearly like a mirror. You need to really look at all of the coin, both sides, all devices, all the fields. Get a good halogen light, a large 2x magnifying glass and a 10x loupe. Tilt the coin through all the angles on both sides. It took me years to learn what it took me minutes to write, to this day I sometimes miss hairlines or something.

Then you can pick some coins that look as good as or better than ones you already have that are graded 69 DCAM. Also don't think all grading services grade the same way. Start with a PCGS 69 DCAM to compare with. Find some raw coins that seem better. Then send them in. You will probably get some lower grades and maybe some cameos. Then you can figure out what the difference is. There is very little difference between a 68 and a 69 and between a strong cameo and a just made it deep cameo.

Of course you can peruse some threads here where people have posted results. Russ had some with his JFKs. They are very educational.

Steve27

I would highly recommend sticking to unopened proof sets for raw submissions. Most of the raw proofs in 2x2s have been mishandled or were not 69DCAMs when originally removed from the set. What separates a PR68 from a PR69, usually a single hairline. How do you tell a CAM from a DCAM, by comparison with other CAMs/DCAMs of the same vintage. Simple magnification should be fine. You can't tell if a coin has been dipped, which is why the grading services classify it as "conservation" (i.e. PCGS can't tell either unless the coin was harshly toned to begin with). Toning and haze will lower the grade (but a PR68 with beautiful toning will be worth more than a white PR69). You can make a 70 but expect to accomplish this by buying many of the same item directly from the mint and then submitting only the best.

GQ

More questions......Having studied PR69DCAMs I still find somewhat of a mark or metal flow irregularity on the high point of the Jefferson check. Is this present in a PR70? I have never studied a PR70DCAM.....are they really perfect in all respects?

CarlWohlforth

6 of 9 of my Jefferson PR 70 DCAMs had naked eye visisble flaws. PCGS agreed so they are no longer 70s. The remaining 3 appear perfect to me, at least they did the last time I took a good look

egsantos

Guys,

It’s impressed the beautiful of a PR70DCAM looked by a Digital Microscope with a correct exposition of light. When I will have time, my idea is produce some high definition images to put in the Forum. It's really an estate of art. The more intrigued question is how a machine makes so perfect jewel in a precise moment and in the following instant produce commons coins. It’s only the die and additives used in the mint process, a human hand that save that piece of scratches with others coins produced in thousands per minute or a divine mechanical coincidence?

Edson