<< <i>And he did invent the thing, for better or worse. >>
Sheldon DID NOT invent the 70 point grading scale. He noted a price/grade correlation that existed for 1794 large cents that had remained fairly stable for some time. He then tried to extend that price/grade correlation to other early date large cents and it worked fairly well. Then he published that observation thereby destroying it completely because the action of observing the system always alters that same system. Copper people tried to tweak it back into working for years and were never successful so they finally abandoned it. Sheldons system was one that predicted the price of an item based on its grade AS DETERMINED BY EXISTING STANDARDS. The only thing Sheldon ever did on grading was the system of creating a net grade by applying deductions to the wear grade to get a net grade.
It was years later that the ANA created the 70 point grading scale.
<< <i>Wow, I knew about the stealing of coins from ANS but not about the racism or nuce pictures... jeez >>
Saying that Sheldon "stole" coins just because a written descriptive inventory didn't match the coins themselves as looked at 30 years later (how many disagreements HERE about the same coin being cleaned and reslabbed when photos are available...same coin...no it's not...yes it is) is a bit of a stretch. If you have seen coin price guides from the 1940s where most large cents were valued at 50 cents or a couple of dollars, in incentive to swap out coins would have been much higher in the 1970s than when Sheldon was looking at them.
Frank Provasek - PCGS Authorized Dealer, Life Member ANA, Member TNA. www.frankcoins.com
I think we can't simply throw out everything allegedly done by people like Sheldon... particularly since a lot of it seems to be innuendo and he is not here to defend himself. Moreover, his views were to a large extent common in his time and a product of his time. Much greater men than him had similar views about issues like race (Lincoln, Jefferson) but we try to remember them for the great aspects of their character. Hopefully future generations will be equally charitable to us... I am sure that some of the things we do, they will regard as barbarism (treatment of animals / the environment? abortion? who knows).
However, Breen is a different story -- he was convicted by a court of law of some of the worst offenses imaginable.
"Men who had never shown any ability to make or increase fortunes for themselves abounded in brilliant plans for creating and increasing wealth for the country at large." Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White (1912)
Comments
<< <i>And he did invent the thing, for better or worse. >>
Sheldon DID NOT invent the 70 point grading scale. He noted a price/grade correlation that existed for 1794 large cents that had remained fairly stable for some time. He then tried to extend that price/grade correlation to other early date large cents and it worked fairly well. Then he published that observation thereby destroying it completely because the action of observing the system always alters that same system. Copper people tried to tweak it back into working for years and were never successful so they finally abandoned it. Sheldons system was one that predicted the price of an item based on its grade AS DETERMINED BY EXISTING STANDARDS. The only thing Sheldon ever did on grading was the system of creating a net grade by applying deductions to the wear grade to get a net grade.
It was years later that the ANA created the 70 point grading scale.
Jerry
<< <i>Wow, I knew about the stealing of coins from ANS but not about the racism or nuce pictures... jeez >>
Saying that Sheldon "stole" coins just because a written descriptive inventory didn't match the coins themselves
as looked at 30 years later (how many disagreements HERE about the same coin being cleaned and reslabbed
when photos are available...same coin...no it's not...yes it is) is a bit of a stretch. If you have seen coin price guides
from the 1940s where most large cents were valued at 50 cents or a couple of dollars, in incentive to swap out
coins would have been much higher in the 1970s than when Sheldon was looking at them.
However, Breen is a different story -- he was convicted by a court of law of some of the worst offenses imaginable.