Peace grading

coindaughter

I know these are buggers for grading. I love the CoinGrader site ( site ), but was wondering if anyone knows something similar on the web for Peace dollars.

I've got Photograde (which, disappointingly, doesn't help with MS grades) and and ANA's grading book--very helpful.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again,
CD

andy007

You really can't grade MS coins with the same accuracy as you can with circulated coins via pictures or scans, hence no MS photograde. I suggest lots and lots of looking at coins at shows, local dealers, anywhere possible.

darktone

Heritage Numismatics has thousands of nice pictures that can be enlarged by clicking on them. I use them often when looking for a reference on a coin I am not familiar with but as andy007 pointed out it's hard to tell MS grades from a scan with any certainty. mike

dragon

coindaughter,

Grading Peace dollars correctly and consistently is a bit tricky and takes experience. Many Peace dollars (especially the S mints) come notoriously weakly struck, others come with very poor lustre, etc. It is many times difficult for many people to distinguish MS pieces from AU pieces. The first places to look for wear on the reverse is the eagles neck feathers and uppermost wing feathers. Also check the high points of Liberty's hair on the obverse and for the "grey" look on her cheek and fields which indicates circulation wear.

Since many Peace dollars come so weakly struck, the main criteria for distinguishing AU from MS coins is the luster and that "grey" look they develop from slight wear, especially the feathers (as mentioned) and the cheek and obv. fields.

The best thing you can do in my opinion is to view many pics online of PCGS and NGC graded Peace dollars in as many different grades as possible to start to get a feel for what a coin should look like in various grades. Also, try to view as many certified coins in person as possible at coin shows, and soon you will see the differences between lightly circulated and MS pieces and what to look for. You could also buy several PCGS graded pieces in AU58, MS63, MS64, etc. rather inexpensively and use them as a reference and learning tool.

Also, see if you can get a copy of either Wayne Millers Morgan & Peace dollar textbook, and/or John Highfill's Silver Dollar Encyclopedia, they both are excellent reference books as well as having many pics of every date and other valuable info.

But the main thing is just to see as many coins as possible and to get a feel for them, it just takes time and practice, that's all.

Dragon