Just curious - how much do graders get paid?

Monstavet

Anyone have any idea? Are they paid by the coin? Or the fingerprint?

kranky

I've heard it's about $250,000 a year.

MORGANHUNTER2

if some of these graders make 250K a yr- that is a rip- considering some of the grades I have seen in recent months just from the MOTHER SHIP.

kieferscoins

$40,000- $300,000 a year.

Cameron Kiefer

MadMonk

<< <i>$40,000- $300,000 a year.

Cameron Kiefer >>



Is that all the services Cameron? That is quite a range.

GAT

There was thread last year that claimed graders were making $5,000 per week. That works out to $125 per hour for a 40 hour week. If I had earned 1/3 of that during my working years, I would be retired on the Riviera, not San Diego.

nwcs

I also hear they work 6 days a week.

SniperFire

I would think that its a pretty mind numbing job eh?

Longacre

I agree with Sniper. I theory it seems like a pretty cool job in terms of seeing a lot of coins and honing your grading skills, and the money seems to be decent, but I can see that it can get old pretty quickly. Imagine being a grader of moderns and not seeing any great rarities all day long.

It would be interesting to hear from a former grader and have them comment on whether the job is mind numbing or not.

kieferscoins

<< <i>Is that all the services Cameron? That is quite a range. >>



It is an average. NGC modern graders start out at the low end of the scale and it goes up from there.

Cameron Kiefer

Barry

<< <i>There was thread last year that claimed graders were making $5,000 per week. That works out to $125 per hour for a 40 hour week. If I had earned 1/3 of that during my working years, I would be retired on the Riviera, not San Diego. >>


San Diego has nicer weather than the Riviera. What are you complaining about?

19Lyds

<< <i>Anyone have any idea? Are they paid by the coin? Or the fingerprint? >>

MrEureka

It would be interesting to hear from a former grader and have them comment on whether the job is mind numbing or not.

That would be me. I graded one week a month and always enjoyed the first few days. By the fifth day, I'd be bored out of my mind.

coinguy1

<< <i>It would be interesting to hear from a former grader and have them comment on whether the job is mind numbing or not >>

Longacre, while this might not prove to be interesting, you are now hearing from a former grader of 7 years at NGC....

I did not consider the job to be mind-numbing. I got to see an incredible number of rarities, as well as outstanding coins of all types. At NGC, at least, we often discussed certain coins and occasionally got into heated arguments about them. And, silly as it might sound, lower grade/value coins were not immune from such debates.

As a grader, I often worked on auto-pilot. But, that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking and evaluating several factors at once, while doing so.

Much of my time was spent doing quality control work - checking the coins after they had been holdered. I think back then, I checked about 1500-2000 holdered coins per day, in addition to the grading that I did.

I had to: look for errors on the coin labels (date, mintmark, denomination, variety, etc.); watch for particles that weren't supposed to be in the holders with the coins; check to make sure the holders had been properly sealed; make sure the coins were not turned too much in the holders; make sure the obverse of each coin faced up and the reverse down, etc.

And, I checked for the accuracy of the grade of each piece. If I thought that a grade should be raised or lowered, I'd turn that holder upside down in the box and later show it to other graders.

Since the time I worked as a grader, (I stopped early in 1998) I believe there are now many more modern coins being graded by PCGS and NGC. I prefer older, rarer material, and do think that if I had to grade huge quantities of modern coins, that my mind might indeed go numb.

Longacre

Coinguy1:

Thanks for your comments. They were informative. I have heard many refer to my job as mind numbing sometimes (which sometimes it is and has nothing to do with coins).

Monstavet

Mark,
Very informative. Without being too specific, were you well-compensated? And tell us the truth...you got a little extra something in your check for fingerprints, right? wink-wink!

coinguy1

Monstavet, "without being too specific", despite the fact that I did not receive a "fingerprint bonus", I was well compensated.

morgannut2

Does this mean that a lot of Moderns collectors, actually might be making up to $300,000 a year if not on Ebay all night??? Thanks for the post Coinguy1!!

JoshL

I wonder how they keep their graders from sending in coins or having a friend send in a coin? It looks like it would be pretty easy for their to be a conflict of interest?

Just curious how they prevent problems like that.

coinguy1

<< <i>I wonder how they keep their graders from sending in coins or having a friend send in a coin? It looks like it would be pretty easy for their to be a conflict of interest? >>

JoshL, while the grading companies try to prevent such things from occurring, that has happened on a few occasions that I am aware of (though I will not speak in specifics on that matter).

Remember though, in most cases, one individual grader doesn't have that much of an influence on the outcome of the final grade assigned to the coin by a team of graders. And, I think it would be foolish to risk a secure, nice paying job by engaging in such activity.

morgannut2

I've always wondered when a new pop-top break through coin is made, if it's a decision by a group of the highest paid, most experienced graders. Or, does it happen over the holidays when the top guys are off and one just gets through. There are at least a few Morgans that seem to have a ceiling on the top grade possible, no matter how nice, and I wonder if the decision to break tradition is by just a group of four lower paid guys, or conversely the top paid reviewers. There wouldn't be a problem with money under the table, if it's a big review vs. a vacation time lower paid group.

coinguy1

Morgannut2, in most cases, the lesser paid/less experienced graders are more likely to be grading moderns and lower value coins submitted through the slower/less costly tiers.

morgannut2

That answers my concern. An 1880-O that pops to Gem is going to be looked at by highly compensated experienced graders no matter what. Thanks.

relayer

I think that after one day as a grader of modern proofs, going 69,69,69,69,69,69,69,69,69,69,68,69,69,69,69,69,69,68,69,69,69 all day I'd go home and shoot myself in the head.

morgannut2

We haven't heard from Marty or Russ in awhile have we?? 69,69,69,68,68,69,69 I'd lose it too!

clackamas

<< <i>We haven't heard from Marty or Russ in awhile have we?? 69,69,69,68,68,69,69 I'd lose it too! >>



Marty keeps the modern/proof graders on thier toes. 69,69,69,69,58,69,69,69,69,58.......