Numismatic News large cent article off base?
darktone
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I just got today's Numismatic News and they have an article about net grading large cents that caught my eye. Grade the coin from the pictures and tell me what you think? I don't agree with the assesment of this coin at all but I am only going by the pictures. mike 
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Gonfunko, maybe someone else could? I have to get ready for work. mike
Rainbow Stars
Copper was the most reactive of the coinage metals used to make coins at the early U.S.Mint. While gold is basically non-reactive and silver reacts slowly, copper tones easily and is susceptible to corrosion. If you need proof, just look at the roofs of many state capitol buildings. The copper roof turns green.
Copper was also the most malleable of the early coinage metals. This means it was softer and more likely to wear and pick up damage.
When it comes to American half and large cents, this means most coppers have toned and/or corroded. They also picked up dings, dents and scratches. A very few are still pristine, looking just like they did when they left the coining press. Others resemble lumps of volcanic rock, with just enough design left to identify them. In between, you find coppers of all conditions and grades. In fact, it is unusual to find two coppers that look alike.
This fact makes all the difference when attempting to grade these copper coins. What most collectors want is a perfect example. In reality, we learn to live with imperfection. The imperfections on copper coins is why net grading is often used.
Until about 60 years ago, coins were not net graded. If a coin with problems was being sold, it was usually given a sharpness grade and then a short description. A coin might be described, for example, as “Uncirculated, corroded.”
When William Sheldon published Early American Cents in 1949, he was the first to incorporate net grading. With each listing of a variety, he listed the six highest grade examples known to him. This was Sheldon’s condition census. In many cases, coins with less detail were listed at a higher grade than coins with imperfections.
Today, even the certification services net grade. Numismatics has come a long way in realizing that wear is not the only criterion in grading.
So, how do you net grade? First, you look at a copper with your naked eye and assign it a condition (remember choice, average and scudzy?). If the coin is choice, the sharpness grade will be the net grade. If it is average or scudzy, the net grade will be lower than the sharpness grade.
Next, determine the sharpness grade, or how much wear the coin has seen. Then look at the coin, with the naked eye and a loupe, to note any defects, mint-made, environmental, or man-made. Environmental defects include discoloration, porosity and pitting. Man-made defects include surface marks (also called circulation marks), edge dents, digs, scratches, cleaning and bends.
Note the number and severity of these defects. For each type of defect, lower the coin grade one step. For example, if a copper has a sharpness grade of VF-20, but has a few light rim bumps, it would be reduced in grade one step and be called an F-15. If the defects are severe, more than one step should be deducted to determine the net grade.
Another copper, with a sharpness grade of VF-20, is lightly porous, has several small edge dents and has been cleaned. With these three different defects, three steps (F-15, F-12, and VG-10) should be taken off the sharpness grade. This coin would net grade VG-10.
Higher grade coppers should be looked at more critically than lower grade coins. A scratch in the obverse field on an AU coin should have more deductions than a similar scratch on a G coin, where such a scratch may be considered normal.
There are some very obvious flaws in the concept of net grading. First, there are several different standards for sharpness grading and there is some variation between them. These guides include, but are not limited to, the American Numismatic Association Guidebook, Photograde, Brown and Dunn, the PCGS Grading Guide, an ANA correspondence course, and even an official EAC Grading Guide, which each member receives with his membership packet.
Second, different defects affect a person’s perception of a coin in different ways. Take, for example, two collectors who are looking at a VF-20 sharpness grade copper that is moderately porous. One collector’s eye may be drawn immediately to the porosity, which this collector detests. This collector may deduct from the coin severely for this defect, netting it perhaps a VG-7. The other collector’s eye may be drawn to the detail on the coin, with the porosity something minor. This collector may make only a minor deduction for the problem, netting the coin a F-15. The same coin, but two very different grades.
Remember, grading is an art, not a science. As stated, two different people can look at a copper coin (or any coin!) and come up with two different grades, sometimes widely apart. That simple fact makes it impossible to have hard and fast rules regarding net grading. You need to develop your own.
Let’s net grade the large cent pictured. It is an 1816 large cent, with EF- 45 detail and nice medium brown surfaces. There is even some mint luster around the devices. The obverse is has a light diagonal scratch across Liberty’s face, a small lamination above the hair, and a tiny carbon spot in front of the bust. When you flip the coin over, there is a deep scratch in the upper reverse, extending from “O” in OF to the wreath. There are two light scratches, one from the rim over the second “T” in STATES to the “T” in CENT and the second from the wreath through the word CENT.
First, decide on the condition. This coin cannot be choice. In fact, it is not even average (how many EF coins have a deep scratch like that?). That makes it average minus or scudzy. Now, let us look for deductions. The only imperfections are the three light scratches and that deep one on the reverse. It is really noticeable and it is pretty big, so let us knock off a few steps. But how many?
Try your hand at net grading this coin. Send me your net grade by e-mail (scarr4002@everestkc.net) or mail at P.O. Box 4174, Overland Park, KS 66204. I’ll have the results in a future column.
<< <i>First, decide on the condition. This coin cannot be choice. In fact, it is not even average (how many EF coins have a deep scratch like that?). That makes it average minus or scudzy. >>
The deep scratch that he talks about is clearly a strike-thru error! I would grade this coin AU55 unless the color was very bad in person. mike
Knowing (as I do) this isn't going to happen, we are forced to determine value based on the grading service to a much larger extent than between buyer and seller. In short, we have very few people determing value for an entire coin industry.
When a coin can be worth 100 dollars raw, 500 dollars in a PCGS slab, cracked out and resubmitted 5 or 6 times until it receives a 1 point bump and increases in value to 3500 dollars...well, you get my drift. We are still talking about the same exact coin in the same exact condition.
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