Grading like the pro's..Have you ever tried it?

MadMonk

The major services break down the Grade attributes (strike, luster, etc.,) enter a value for each attribute, then come up with a grade.
I call it "Sheet Grading"
Have you ever tried it on your own? You might find it very enlightening as to what you see in holders.

Russ

Yep. It's the way I've been grading since I found and printed out this worksheet.. I don't actually use the sheet itself anymore, but still use the approach.

Russ, NCNE

MadMonk

I have the Halperin book as well. I believe his method was 1 point loose. What do you think?

roadrunner

This system probably worked better in the '86-'90 market as the grade is tilted towards surface preservation. Back then surfaces drove the grade and lots of uglier, dull coins with weak luster got graded up. Today PCGS and NGC are more concerned with eye appeal and obvious luster. They accept more marks today and stripped out but white luster. Strike has always been somewhat secondary in my opinion to the other factors. The reverse is not worth as much as the obverse. A coin with a 65 obv and a 64+ reverse will grade 65 on many occasions. But a 64+ obv with a 65 reverse will usually not get upgraded. The weighting of obv to rev might be 55/45 or something similar. It's not 50/50.

I don't believe any grader has time to do this kind of mental grading never mind writing it down while he grades a coin in 5 seconds.
His mind is pre-conditioned to look, and then spit out a number.
It's done mostly done subconsciously.

roadrunner

MadMonk

<< <i>I don't believe any grader has time to do this kind of mental grading never mind writing it down while he grades a coin in 5 seconds.
His mind is pre-conditioned to look, and then spit out a number.
It's done mostly done subconsciously.

roadrunner >>



I'm not referring to Halperins method, I'm refering to PCGS, and NGC. Yes, luster is a major factor, thats why you see so many "ticky" MS-65's. You dont think they enter this data into a computer?

jeffnpcb

After seeing most of the pics on these threads, most guys would be in trouble if I graded them!
I have two books on grading and it is best said to leave it to the guys who work at it daily!

With all the varieties and different attributions, I would spend probably several hours on each one! Just the knowledge and research skills involved is tough enough!

roadrunner

I could be wrong, and I am a lot, but I don't think the graders enter subfactors into the computer to get a grade. On 95% of the submissions they just don't have the time. Imagine taking the extra few 5-10 seconds to record 8-10 factors about the obv and rev of a
2000 gold eagle? Valuable production time lost and money $$$ too.
Half as many coins would get graded. Now if they do this....then here is a way for PCGS to double their profits with no loss in accuracy.

Maybe Mark Feld or Andy Lustig could fill us on this.

roadrunner

dragon

roadrunner,

Actually, the obverse counts towards about 70% of a coins total grade.