Grading Process

tradedollarnut

Hi David: I was always under the impression that each coin was graded by three individuals and "finalized" by an even more experienced numismatist. Something you posted earlier made me think I might be mistaken - can you describe the grading process?

homerunhall

Hi Bruce...We abandoned the "finalizer" process over ten years ago. We found that the finalizer concept tends to give one person too much "power" over the final grade. We believe the consensus opinion approach leads to the most appropriate grades. We have set our system up so that at least two people must always agree on the grade of a coin before it gets out the door.

The basic system is the first grader enters his grade in the computer. The second grader then enters his grade in the computer, not knowing the first grader's grade. If the two graders agree, the coin is then assigned the grade by the computer. If the first two graders do not agree, a third grader looks at the coin and enters his grade. The third grader will usually agree with one of the first two graders, and in that case the computer assigns the grade of the matching grader. Sometime there are three different grades. Sometimes it's what we call a "straight", as in 63,64,65, and in those cases the computer assigns the middle grade as we have found that in the case of "straights' the middle grade is virtually always the right grade. In the weird cases where there is no real match, the computer designates the coin an "investigate" and that coin is reviewed by the graders to determine the grade.

After the coin receives its initial grade, it is holdered and then comes back into the grading room for one grader to perform the "verification" task, reviewing the in-the-holder grade. If the verifier feels the grade is wrong he tags the coin with his opinion and a second grader (usually Ron Howrd) either agrees or disagrees with his opinion. If the second grader agrees the coin's grade is changed. Between 2% and 4% of coins are changed in the verification process.

The coin also goes thru a "mechanical verification" process where a staff member checks to make sure the insert information matches the coin.

That's the basic method. There are variations for some of the bulk grading services.

David