What`s the hardesteasiest coin series for you to grade?

ccr

I have a hard time grading Peace Dollars. I have a few ( raw and slabbed ) at different grades and still find it hard to wade thru the differences from one grade to another. The easiest is for me is the Morgan Dollars. Well at least I`m getting a little better at it.

shirohniichan

I have the hardest time with Indian $2 1/2 and $5 gold pieces.

nwcs

Peace dollars, and very small coins like 3 C and 10 C coins. And coins with similar designs to the Peace (low relief) like Franklins.

jom

Yep, $2.5 and $5 Indians have got to be the worst. Not only that many of the mint marked $5's are almost impossible to find in nice condition. Adding it up, the $5 Indian is my winner for the "Worst Choice of Coin Series to Collect" award. Am I trying to put this set together? You bet. lol

jom

CarlWohlforth

I also have a hard time with those incuse Indians.

I've seen more proof Jeffersons than anything else so those are getting a little easier for me. The difference between slight Cam and real Cam and DCAM is subtle and is still tough for me.

oldcameoproofsguy

I have the hardest time with Buffalo Nickels especially in MS. The design covers most of the coin which makes it more difficult to see bag marks and imperfections. Strike on the other hand is clearly evident on a buffalo.

Franklins Halfs in mint state are clearly the easiest for me to grade because the design is so simple that strike and any imperfections are easy to determine.

dorkkarl

toughest to grade: capped bust, incused gold, 3c-silver

easiest to grade: liberty nickels

K S

tjkillian

As I understand it, Branch Mint Gold from before the War for Southern Independence are the hardest as they had very poor equipment. I have a 1852-D Half Eagle recently, freshly, graded as VF-35 that I would have called a very low-end VF.

Tom

Elcontador

I think the hardest series to grade are Capped Bust Halves in AU 58 or better due to the inconsistent strikes of the coins. Add Large Dentil Capped Bust coinage in general to that. Weakly struck San Francisco mint buffalo nickels in all grades are tough.

An easy series to grade are Walkers. Unc. Liberty Nickels aren't too difficult, either.

Dog97

For me MS Morgans & Barbers are easy. BOOM BOOM BOOM I can flip them out like PCGS @ 5 seconds per coin. Circ Morgans take me longer because there are so many lines to check to see if they are strong, weak, merged etc. Circ Barbers are easy because most of it depends on the LIBERTY band.
I hate grading Peace Dollars because they all look alike to me.
I don't grade any other types of coins very often.

Nysoto

Draped bust halves are even more difficult to grade than capped bust halves. They all have inconsistent strikes. Some varieties, like 1806 O-105, O106, O-107, and O-113 have flat strikes in the drapery lines, others have poor hair detail (all six of 1806 obverse 10, most 1807's), others have poor wing and motto detail. This only makes them more challenging and interesting to collect.

Bill

BigD5

I have a hard time with Peace dollars and three cent nickels and silvers. Buffalo nickels come pretty easy to me, only by default of looking at them for 20+ years (Please ignore the net graded coin I ahve for sale on the BS&T board ). I don't do enough with those incuse gold pieces, but I wouldn't wager any money on my grading skills there
Peace dollars should be easy, in my mind anyway, but I stopped trying to pick these off raw. I know my limitations

osirisMMII

Right now the most difficult for PCGS graders (based on a recent submission) is Kennedy proofs!!

boiler78

2-1/2 and 5 indians are the hardest and Morgans (unc) are the easiest for me.

braddick

Kennedies and Ikes, easy. They're either GEM or not.
The toughest is early gold and Bust. I still miss on coins that have been tooled and/or professionally worked on. I even missed a filled hole Bust dollar, but I didn't feel too bad when I later learned, so did NGC.

Steve27

Peace dollars/Franklins on the hard side and Morgans/Barbers/Mercs on the easy side.

airplanenut

CN Indians... mine from 1859 has not gotten two people to agree on a grade yet igust;

Ronyahski

Easiest: Franklins, simple design.

Hardest: Half dimes, so small.

darktone

$4 gold because I have never two to compare to each other or even one. mike

stman

This has nothing to do with a certain series, but grading a piece that has some original toning can add some difficulty. As you need the skill of being able to look under and through the toning.

A little off topic but thought I would throw this in.

wingedliberty

Excellent thread.

Hardest for me: Incuse designs, ie: Indian gold.
easiest: Mercs, Morgans, Walkers, Peace dolls, buffs, lincs.


Brian

ARCO

Barbers are relatively easy, LIBERTY is mostly the key ingredient to the grade in Circulated condition. Seated coinage isn't too tough, nor are SLQ's and Walking Liberty halves. AU gold takes the cake for difficulty in my opinion.

Tyler

FC57Coins

Hardest: The coin that I'm about to get

Easiest: The coin that I already got....

Or is it the other way around???

IrishMike

Without a doubt the hardest coin I ever had to grade was a Saint, a 1933, I missed PCGS's grade by two points. The easiest are Morgans, the most difficult, any small coin.

KlectorKid

Easiest: Capped bust and Seated liberty
Hardest: Peace Dollar

Flash

"the War for Southern Independence

I thought it was the War Against Northern Aggression, but that is neither here nor there. At this point I find Mercs and 3-cent silvers the most difficult for me to get a handle on grading.