"NO BRAINER" GRADING

BAJJERFAN

Are there certain coins in every series that should be a no brainer to grade right? I'm thinkin that if I sent a 1881-S MS65 Morgan to every grading service that it should come back correctly graded time after time. Right or wrong here? On the other hand the O mint and post 1900 Morgans can be somewhat tougher as we all know and certain O mint coins in the AU58/UNC class that have great eye appeal can be especially challenging.

nwcs

The only no brainer, IMO, is properly graded circulated coinage. Everything else has "depends on" written all over it. But I do think there are some coins in series that are relatively easy to grade. Like the 1879-82 S Morgans. Those are fairly straightforward. To me, all washington silver quarters are a bear to grade. And uncirculated dimes are hard for me.

Neil

Steve27

I think you're half right. The "O" mint mark coins are known for weak strike versus other mints, and in particular with the 1881-S Morgan, as you point out, this is not an issue. But just how many scratches of what depth in what areas permits a Morgan to be a 65, and not a 64, sometimes appears to be more subjective than objective.

BillJones

I think that “gradeflation” has hit the dollar market. Most all of the MS-65 graded Morgan dollars that I have seen of late have been way too marked up by my standards, and naturally that has filtered down to the MS-64 coins, which now look like what used to be MS-63.

The net result will be the bids will fall accordingly although those who get these MS-64s that are masquerading as MS-65s will still get higher prices. When the grading services let their standards slip, the collectors get the shaft, but it seems that few of them notice it.

I don't think there are any "no brainer" coins when it comes to grading. There are only people who don't use their brains when they buy coins. They buy what it says in the plastic holder.