full step question

Cladiator

i know very little about the full step thing. can you tell me the difference between a 6-6-6-6 and a 5-5-5-5? would both of those be slabbed as "FS" by pcgs?

JRocco

Go to varietynickels.com. It is a really informative, excellent site. I do believe PCGS will give FS designation to 5 step coins while NGC will state on the holder either a 5 or a 6 FS coin.

solid

PCGS would slab both of those as Full Steps.

The step count is split into quarters, showing how many steps are visible below
each of the four columns. If a coin is weak under the 3rd column, the step count
could be something like 6-5-4-5, which would not make Full Steps.

PCGS says that there must be five unbroken steps with no merges or marks,
but in reality they will sometimes let a weak tick slide by.

NGC used to be tougher on steps as they required 6 complete steps before they
would grant the FS designation. They now will grade coins as being either 5FS
or 6FS.

Ken