Grades: Crossovers v Raw?

fcloud

David,

Thank joining us for another Tuesday!

Back in January I sent in a NGC (very old holder) MS61 1923-S Mercury Dime. I put a minimun grade on the form of MS60. I received the coin back DNC. I for the life of me could not figure out why it didn't make the grade. No rub, no hairlines, uncleaned natural look. After looking at this coin for about two months on and off, I decided to break it out and try again. I was hoping that I would at least get it into the PCGS holder for my Mercury Dime Set. I carefully removed the coin from the holder, placed it into a 2.5 x 2.5 holder and sent it in with one of my orders. I was extreamly happy with the results of MS63! The coin only has one small tick on the cheek, and a nice strike. So the tough question--Do graders have a bias against coins in the competitions holders? How can a coin not meet the specs of MS60 while in a NGC holder, yet grade MS63 while raw?

Invoice numbers 9003417 and 9009637.

<-- it is that dime

Thanks,

Tony

homerunhall

I am convinced that graders do not have a bias against NGC coins. In fact we try very hard to cross as many coins as possible. The one caveat is that it is harder to see the coins in the NGC holder, which is how crossovers are graded. Sometimes the coins look a lot better raw (sometimes they don't.)