Reverse Grading

becker

Back when I started in the biz (which was shortly after they started making coins round) I had the good fortune to work with a famous dealer who had developed the habit of always looking at the reverse of the coin first. He explained that he could learn as much about the grade of the coin from this side and then view the obverse to confirm his opinion. He also said that early in his career when he made a mistake and overlooked a flaw or problem 9 times out of 10 what he missed was on the reverse of the coin so he'd started looking there first.

I have used this technique for many years and it seems to work well for me. I'm curious. Are there any other "reverse graders" out there? I should clarify by mentioning that when grading some types of circulated coins viewing the reverse of the coin first is the standard proceedure.

Thanks in advance for any response you would be kind enough to offer.

Morganluver

At least with the Morgan Dollar series, the reverse is almost always in better condition than the obverse, probably due to design features. I've seen many Dollars with MS 60-63 grades that have MS 65,66, or even 67 reverses, so at least with this series, I would probably look at the obverse first. I think I remember reading that most pro graders say that the reverse condition won't usually help a coins overall grade but it can hurt it if there are enough marks. Your "look at the reverse first" method would probably work well with some of the other series though IMO.

becker

More than a few times I've seen "clean cheek" MS-65 grading service Morgans that have significant defects on the reverse.
Your comments are good ones. I think we both agree that since we're buying the whole we should give all three sides serious consideration.
Best,
Tom