Slabbing is NOT A REPLACEMENT for learning to grade your coins yourself.

mrdq

It's just another human's opinion of your coin. If you can't grade the coins yourself it's going to be harder for you to be in this hobby and not feel ripped off.

Buy the "Official A.N.A Grading Standards for United States Coins" I.S.B.N. #0-307-09097-3.

Grab a coin. Start at the low end of the scale and read, compare, move to the next higher grade, read, compare, move to the next higher grade. Continue this method until you find that what you are reading is NOT present or apparent on the coin and you now know that it ISN'T this grade so it's the previous one. I don't start at MS70 and work my way down because it's harder to tell when a coin "loses" a quality than it is to tell when a coin "gains" a quality or attribute.

For example

Seated Halfdimes P. 132
VF 30
Obverse: Wear spots show on shoulder, breast, knee and legs. The head is weak but has some visible details. LIBERTY and scroll are complete.
Reverse: Leaves are worn but almost all the details are visible. Most of the details in the ribbon bow are clear.

EF 40
Obverse: Wear shows on knees, head and shoulder. Gown lightly worn at neckline in spots. LIBERTY is complete and scroll edges are raised.
Reverse: High points of wreath and bow are worn, but all details are clearly defined.
Traces of mint luster may still show.

The first thing that i'd check is the LIBERTY because the difference between these 2 grades is that LIBERTY and SCROLL go from "complete" to "complete and scroll edges are raised"
On the reverse you can see that it goes from
most of the details go from "visible" to
all of the details "clearly defined"

I don't know how to grade each series/denomination/year off the top of my head but i'm sure that with this book I can grade as accurate if not more accurate than anyone in the business because the A.N.A grading standards are set forth and published in this book and it's REAL easy to follow. Many people (erroneously in my opinion) will take a coin currently slabbed in a grade and compare other coins to it and say "coin A is a 61 and this is better so it's at least a 62". But don't assume coin A is properly graded SIMPLY BECAUSE IT'S IN A SLAB.

I'm not "slab bashing". I buy them and I've sent in raw coins to be slabbed but I bought the coins based on my appraisel of the coins and the price offered. I also have purchased slabbed coins because I agreed with the grading, not just because it was graded for me. Slabbing has made it easier for all of us to buy coins even when we haven't seen the coin. When a coin is slabbed you can start off by saying "OK someone thinks it's XX grade, let me see if I agree". Those ebay'ers that say "This coin is graded by a 3rd party grading service and no returns allowed" are stretching it a bit I think. You read here EVERY DAY about coins not consistant with the slabbed grade so why should you be forced to accept a coin that you don't think is graded properly.

When I go to appraise someone's collection I don't leave without my "coin kit" and in it is the A.N.A. guide.

Don't leave home without it.

Slabbing is NOT A REPLACEMENT for learning to grade your coins yourself. It's a tool of your hobby. Be aware of what years or mints have weak strikes for the series you're grading and good luck

Tom

ER

So true. Thanks, Tom.

Coins101

<< <i>Slabbing is NOT A REPLACEMENT for learning to grade your coins yourself. It's a tool of your hobby. >>

PutTogether

this thread should stay at the top forever.

islemangu

yeah...but some of us are lazy

291fifth

If you want to know why you should know how to grade take some of your MAJOR brand slabs to a show or shop and try to sell them. Let the badmouthing begin!

FC57Coins

Great post Tom - have a dillybar on me

JrGMan2004

I've used slabs, particularly from PCGS, as a reference tool for learning to grade MS grade Mercs. I think it's a bit harder to get the hang of MS coins, b/c it's all dependant on how many hits there are, rather than wear... and of course, I've learned a lot from the postings on this board, and I've developed a pretty good eye for grading MS Mercs and Morgans...

nwcs

Who said that slabbing is a replacement for learning to grade coins for yourself? Also, the ANA and the leading services all say you learn to grade properly by seeing the best. That way you understand better how far from perfection the coin is.

JoyofCollecting

There are a few series where I think I am a very decent grader. I specialize in these series and feel very comfortable buying raw coins and do have a difference of opinion with the grading services on many occassions.

However, I wanted a Spanish Trail a few months ago. I did not spend months trying to learn how to grade that coin. I relied upon the opinions of the grading service for its technical features and the eye appeal for my personal choice of a particular specimen in the technical grade desired. Obviously, if I were going to buy and sell a decent number of these coins....I would most certainly take the time to learn the technical grading points.....beyond the few paragraphs in the Swiatek books etc.

Twenty years ago...I would have felt very uncomfortable buying a nice raw coin in a series I was unfamiliar with.

DHeath

There's nothing in this post I disagree with, but Neil shares my philosophy. One of the things the A.N.A. grading guide says is as follows:

"Fine line differences in grading become important when there is a difference of hundreds or even thousands of dollars of value between coins of superior quality. Of all the astetic qualities, none is more important than the quality and originality of luster. To evaluate the luster of a coin one must be able to judge it's appearance against a perfect coin of the same date and mint. "

To grade properly, you just have to know what a particular date/mm is supposed to look like, and what the best examples DO look like. It's nearly impossible to teach yourself, unless you spend years looking at coins, or specialize in one series and do tons of research. You just have to view and remember the BEST examples. Professional graders have the advantage of having many of those coins cross their desk. If you try to compare a 13-S Saint to a 28-P Saint and don't know the difference in how the coins are supposed to look, one could easily miss the coin by TWO GRADES.

The recent PCGS grading competition exemplifies the difference between dealers, professional graders, and collectors pretty well. While I agree there's no substitute for learning to grade yourself, and there's certainly nothing wrong with having strong likes and dislikes when you're spending your money, there's also little wrong with getting an expert opinion. JMO

Veep

My favorite basic training guide for keeping up my grading skills includes three things:

1) Go to mnay shows and look at a lot of slabbed coins. You'll soon get a feel what low-end, mid-range and high-end coins look like in each grade.

2) Same as above, but do this with auction lots. You can see a ton of coins in your collecting specialty in short time.

3) Use the zoom feature on Heritage's website to test your grading standards against the leading certification companies.

keets

i think what jrgman said is very good advice. look at lots and lots of holdered coins while learning to grade whatever it is that interests you in the hobby, especially the major service holders of PCGS/NGC/ANACS. they certainly have a better opinion than most dealers who will be selling a coin raw marked as a certain grade.

al h.