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What Year Will Computers Grade Coins?

Hello again, what year do you think computers will start replacing human graders. Do you think it is possible. Are they doing it already with out us knowing.

I think it can happen but I am just a dweeb, what do I know.

All you need is a scanning format for the way they look at a coin now. I sit and think of some of these coin shows having MS/Pr 69 and 70 coins labeled 1 of 13,444 the first week after the coins are release, seems very quick doesn't it, At least it seems that way to me. How can humans grade that many coins plus all of the other submissions "We The People" send in. Give me your insight please. Yaha
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  • HyperionHyperion Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭
    speaking at a professional software developer.

    Never*











    *unless it were under such strict limitations as to make the software itself pretty much useless.
  • Computers would make the same mistakes humans make, only faster.
    Never teach a pig to sing. You'll waste your time and annoy the pig image

    image
  • RonyahskiRonyahski Posts: 3,117 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Hello again, what year do you think computers will start replacing human graders. >>



    The same year a computer can tell us a Picasso is better than a Monet or worse than a Van Gogh or equal to a Modigliani. Not in our lifetime, probably never.
    Some refer to overgraded slabs as Coffins. I like to think of them as Happy Coins.
  • A perfect brown wheat cannot get a 67 because the luster isn't flashy anymore. Technically it would get 67, but the human viewing it would say it doesn't have the pop. I like it that way.
    Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    Apropos of the coin posse/aka caca: "The longer he spoke of his honor, the tighter I held to my purse."

    image
  • PCGS did a decent job with their project, and that was over 10 years ago. The bottom line was that PCGS computer program wasn't economically attractive. For a small start up company, the economics will have a very different math than for an established company.

    Some futurists are talking about computers replacing humans for many kinds of thinking, not just coin grading, that day is getting closer. Do a search on singularity and see what some are writing about.

    "Open the pod bay doors."
  • dcarrdcarr Posts: 8,631 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My prediction:
    Computerized grading will happen when Mr Data walks among us.
    The development of advanced robotic "beings" will be the next major
    human development - an event far more important than even the taming
    of fire or the invention of the wheel. At least 50-100 years from now,
    though.

    The only difference will be that robots will argue over the grade before
    the humans get their chance to do the same.
  • messydeskmessydesk Posts: 20,050 ✭✭✭✭✭
    As soon as they can taste wine.


  • << <i>Hello again, what year do you think computers will start replacing human graders. Do you think it is possible. Are they doing it already with out us knowing.

    I think it can happen but I am just a dweeb, what do I know.

    All you need is a scanning format for the way they look at a coin now. I sit and think of some of these coin shows having MS/Pr 69 and 70 coins labeled 1 of 13,444 the first week after the coins are release, seems very quick doesn't it, At least it seems that way to me. How can humans grade that many coins plus all of the other submissions "We The People" send in. Give me your insight please. Yaha >>




    never
    "From Time to Time the Tree of Liberty Must be Refreshed with the Blood of Patriots and of Tyrants"

    --Thomas Jefferson
  • Way back when, a computer chess program was considered the holy grail of artificial intelligence. Today it is old hat the best computer programs can beat the best human players.

    Computer aided coin grading will likely be with us before pure computer grading. Coins are an old school business, with a lot of old school types dominating the business.

    One decent way to go about it, is similar to how some computer chess programs work. Assemble a huge database of human standard items. In the case of coins, consensus graded coins. In the case of chess, board positions of all major chess games. With a big enough database, a computer program can cover a lot of ground very quickly. The program would likely be better at spotting identical coins than even the best expert humans. With a large enough database, and good enough imaging, this would be a decent approach, at least for computer aided grading.

    All it would take to do the project is money, and time, and lot of images, or access to lots of graded coins. The technology is here today, even five to 10 year old tech could handle the task. The bar to jump is the economics and marketing. Coin grading is a small niche business with revenues flat to down, so it unlikely that the project would attract funding. More likely, it will be hobbyists or students that do this kind of project for fun, and it takes off to the point of being commercially viable. Remember, Google started as an academic project done for kicks, now look at it.

  • WTCGWTCG Posts: 8,940 ✭✭✭
    PCGS has used a computer to grade coins before in the past and it didn't work. Until a computer can grade judging on attributes such as eye appeal, strike quality or can detect artificial toning grading will be the sole domain of humans.
    Follow me on Twitter @wtcgroup
    Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"


  • << <i>As soon as they can taste wine. >>


    They already have a robot the can.

    Link
    Never teach a pig to sing. You'll waste your time and annoy the pig image

    image
  • sumnomsumnom Posts: 5,963 ✭✭✭
    As far as AT goes, humans can't figure that out either.


  • << <i>PCGS has used a computer to grade coins before in the past and it didn't work. Until a computer can grade judging on attributes such as eye appeal, strike quality or can detect artificial toning grading will be the sole domain of humans. >>



    It did work, but wasn't cost effective. It wasn't 100%, more like 80%. It couldn't deal with toners, and only did Morgans. It cost over $1 million to get to that stage, so the plug was pulled. The economics just didn't make sense. 80% sounds terrible, but some would say the humans are only a touch better than that.

    For the computer, a human still had to move the coins for imaging and that likely took more time than a human looking at coins, so again the cost/benefit factor was the killer.

    Add a large database to the approach that PCGS had, and accuracy would increase another level. The downside is that identifying resubmits and assigning the same grade already given is a negative to the existing business model.



  • dogwooddogwood Posts: 1,935 ✭✭✭✭
    The day a program can grade technically grade a coin is recent history.
    The day a program can aesthetically grade a coin is still far off. Is there a universal 0110101000101001110 that can dive into 60 power magnification and anylize metal flow paterns in an objective way to bring it all together for how a 1864-s quarter is going to stir the juices of the 17 people that want it. A computer would just have to ask every conceivable question and provide us with the best answers based on it's observations. Heck you and I can do that.
    We're all born MS70. I'm about a Fine 15 right now.
  • I've been dreaming about this subject for years.....I have the plan all worked out, now if I can just find a programer that can make my ideas work......watch out.


    Shhhh....its already being developed as we speak.......

  • pb2ypb2y Posts: 1,461
    Someday for sure and always bearing in mind that
    computer buffs and drug addicts are called users.
    image

  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,125 ✭✭✭✭✭
    In the year 2525.

    CAC Computer Aided Coingrading!!
    theknowitalltroll;
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think within ten years there will be computer assisted grading.

    By 2030 the human element will be nearly absent. A friend at the
    cutting edge of AI would probably predict closer to 2080. I believe
    computers will have actual intelligence before they can get AI even
    close to being perfected.
    Tempus fugit.
  • pb2ypb2y Posts: 1,461


    << <i>In the year 2525. CAC Computer Aided Coingrading!! >>



    In 1945 cumputers had many thousands of tubes and wieghed
    30 tons. It was predicted that by 1999 they would wiegh only
    2 tons and fit in small room. Today we have hand held cumputers
    that will fit in a shirt pocket and do as much. Think about it.

    .
    image

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>In the year 2525. CAC Computer Aided Coingrading!! >>



    In 1945 cumputers had many thousands of tubes and wieghed
    30 tons. It was predicted that by 1999 they would wiegh only
    2 tons and fit in small room. Today we have hand held cumputers
    that will fit in a shirt pocket and do as much. Think about it.

    . >>




    It won't be many years until a PC has as many connections as a brain.

    I suspect the internet already does and is just hooked up wrong. One
    of these mornings we'll get up and the computer will already be awake. image
    Tempus fugit.
  • EagleEyeEagleEye Posts: 7,677 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Be carefull for what you wish for, you may just get it.


    Once you take the eye appeal factor out of coin grading, you've lost me.
    Rick Snow, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, Inc.Check out my new web site:
  • FrankcoinsFrankcoins Posts: 4,569 ✭✭✭
    May 16, 1990
    Frank Provasek - PCGS Authorized Dealer, Life Member ANA, Member TNA. www.frankcoins.com
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Be carefull for what you wish for, you may just get it.


    Once you take the eye appeal factor out of coin grading, you've lost me. >>




    With almost all other human activity obsolete we'll have plenty of time to argue about whether or not there's such a thing as eye appeal.
    Tempus fugit.
  • FrankcoinsFrankcoins Posts: 4,569 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Be carefull for what you wish for, you may just get it.


    Once you take the eye appeal factor out of coin grading, you've lost me. >>



    Once you add eye appeal to the "grade" you have such nonsense as stating that coins with wear should be graded Uncirculated, because the market dictates an Uncirculated price, not an AU price, or that bust haves graded MS66 can show rub. ( both statements from a TPG's written standards)
    Frank Provasek - PCGS Authorized Dealer, Life Member ANA, Member TNA. www.frankcoins.com
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,342 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Never say never but probably not in my lifetime.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • tightbudgettightbudget Posts: 7,299 ✭✭✭
    Tried and failed. I doubt it'll ever be successful.


  • << <i>

    << <i>In the year 2525. CAC Computer Aided Coingrading!! >>



    In 1945 cumputers had many thousands of tubes and wieghed
    30 tons. It was predicted that by 1999 they would wiegh only
    2 tons and fit in small room. Today we have hand held cumputers
    that will fit in a shirt pocket and do as much. Think about it.

    . >>



    Right on point. I think some are afraid to admit it. The knowledge of the most intelligent in any field only contains the knowledge that we know now at this point in time.

    As for eye appeal, if one can specify in their own mind what parameters determine a coin has a certain level of eye appeal a coin has, then one will be able to set the parameters within computer programming to do the same.

    We are already able to do that with a lot of different programming.

    It doesn't require a "positronic technology like Mr. Data" to due such things.

    edited to correct grammar
    Trustworthy BST sellers: cucamongacoin
  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,125 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>In the year 2525. CAC Computer Aided Coingrading!! >>



    In 1945 cumputers had many thousands of tubes and wieghed
    30 tons. It was predicted that by 1999 they would wiegh only
    2 tons and fit in small room. Today we have hand held cumputers
    that will fit in a shirt pocket and do as much. Think about it.

    . >>



    Me thinkie that was a spoofie on the old Zager and Evans song "In the Year 2525" image I see no one caught that; otherwise I have no idea if and when it might happen. By the time it does tho there might not be anything left worth grading unless one is going to crack out and regrade everything for a 50 cent fee or somehow they miraculously rediscover the millions of Morgans that were melted.
    theknowitalltroll;
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ah yes.. one of my favorite topics. There are already programs that inspect highly populated printed circuit boards or micro chips. And they are effective. Computer capability has come a long way since PCGS's earlier efforts. Computer grading will happen... if it is a parameter, it can be measured... therefore programmed. It will become a reality within 25/30 years... and the first TPG to implement an accurate, repeatable process will win the whole enchillada. The complexity of coins is no more difficult than things that are already being inspected by computers, - it must just be developed. Cheers, RickO
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    I believe that some day, computers will be called upon to provide a *component* of a coin's overall grade based on the factors that are not subjective. But as long as coins are market graded (i.e. assigned a "value" not necessarily aligned with the objective/technical grade), computers will be only provide part of the overall assigned grade.
  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,125 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I believe that some day, computers will be called upon to provide a *component* of a coin's overall grade based on the factors that are not subjective. But as long as coins are market graded (i.e. assigned a "value" not necessarily aligned with the objective/technical grade), computers will be only provide part of the overall assigned grade. >>



    They will still have a human "finalizer" no?
    theknowitalltroll;
  • 12/13/2012 (the day after you know what).
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭


    << <i>They will still have a human "finalizer" no? >>

    As long as the push is for market grading, subjective factors will enter the valuation and the market will want coins priced rather than graded. So yes, this implies we will continue to see the human element.
  • YaHaYaHa Posts: 4,220
    On the crackout issue when someone breaks open a coin from a slab and has it regraded for a higher grade. I think a computer system would not "Miss" a grade of a coin the first time.

    It could be here sooner than you think. Hell I can google my home from outer space and see what kind of satellite dish is on my roof. Yaha
  • kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,580 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We don't know. We just don't know...
    "I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭


    << <i>On the crackout issue when someone breaks open a coin from a slab and has it regraded for a higher grade. I think a computer system would not "Miss" a grade of a coin the first time. >>

    You may be right, but again -- as long as numismatics is seeking market grading -- to have coins PRICED rather than strictly graded -- some human element will decide that a VERY nice coin that a computer keeps grading AU-58 should be put in a 62 holder. And maybe the "human element" might decide to give it 63 once, at which time it's likely in a coffin.


  • << <i>In the year 2525.

    CAC Computer Aided Coingrading!! >>


    In the year 2525
    Zager and Evans
    Reached #1 in July of 1969

    In the year 2525
    If man is still alive
    If woman can survive they may find

    In the year 3535
    Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
    Everything you think do and say
    Is in the pill you took today

    In the year 4545
    You ain't gonna need your teeth won't need your eyes
    You won't find a thing to chew
    Nobody's gonna look at you

    In the year 5555
    Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
    Your legs got nothin' to do
    Some machine's doing that for you

    In the year 6565
    You won't need no husband, won't need no wife
    You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
    From the bottom of a long glass tube

    In the year 7510
    If God's a comin' He oughta make it by then
    Maybe He'll look around Himself and say
    Guess it's time for the judgement day

    In the year 8510
    God is gonna shake His mighty head
    He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been
    Or tear it down and start again woh oh

    In the year 9595
    I'm kinda wonderin' if man is gonna be alive
    He's takin everything this old earth can give
    And he ain't put back nothin woh oh

    Now it's been ten thousand years
    Man has cried a billion tears
    For what he never knew
    Now man's reign is through

    But through eternal night
    The twinkling of starlight
    So very far away
    Maybe it's only yesterday

    In the year 2525
    If man is still alive
    If woman can survive, they may find......
    ......Larry........image
  • dogwooddogwood Posts: 1,935 ✭✭✭✭
    Oh, those goofy hippies.....image
    We're all born MS70. I'm about a Fine 15 right now.
  • 2030-2050 sounds good to me. A good YN project would be to question 100 computer geeks and 100 coin collectors and get their target years, then share that info with all 200 of them and ask for an adjusted opinion, if any. Repeat this procedure to sharpen the estimate. I think they call this the Delphi method. Not after the oracle at Delphi, but from 'del' and 'phi'---'change' and 'philosophy'.
    Successful transactions with: DCarr, Meltdown, Notwilight, Loki, MMR, Musky1011, cohodk, claychaser, cheezhed, guitarwes, Hayden, USMoneyLover

    Proud recipient of two "You Suck" awards
  • tahoe98tahoe98 Posts: 11,388 ✭✭✭


    << <i>As far as AT goes, humans can't figure that out either. >>




    image
    "government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is a force! like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." George Washington
  • tahoe98tahoe98 Posts: 11,388 ✭✭✭


    << <i>In the year 2525.

    CAC Computer Aided Coingrading!! >>





    image
    "government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is a force! like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." George Washington
  • tahoe98tahoe98 Posts: 11,388 ✭✭✭


    is it nostradamus that said...............................don't make any plans after 2012? image
    "government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is a force! like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." George Washington
  • pb2ypb2y Posts: 1,461
    The programmers of Chinook claim they have solved the game
    of checkers with 200 computers working every day since 1988.
    The program has solved over 500 billion checker positions and
    the best a human can do is draw. The task was completed in April 2007.
    In view of this a coin grading program is very possible.
    image

  • cmerlo1cmerlo1 Posts: 7,920 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Wasn't there a company called Compugrade that graded Morgans in the early 90's? I seem to remember this- they had a slab that showed the edge of the coin and had grades rounded to one decimal place, like MS-64.2, etc...was this the PCGS attempt that was mentioned in the previous posts?

    --Christian
    You Suck! Awarded 6/2008- 1901-O Micro O Morgan, 8/2008- 1878 VAM-123 Morgan, 9/2022 1888-O VAM-1B3 H8 Morgan | Senior Regional Representative- ANACS Coin Grading. Posted opinions on coins are my own, and are not an official ANACS opinion.
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>is it nostradamus that said...............................don't make any plans after 2012? image >>




    I believe this originates from a poor interpretation of Mayan calendrical practices.

    Nostradamus, I believe, implied the end would be around 1996.

    These dates have always come and gone in the past and 2012 will likely be the same.
    Tempus fugit.
  • Aegis3Aegis3 Posts: 2,906 ✭✭✭
    A computer cannot tell me whether or not I like the coin, so who cares if/when computers can grade coins? Frankly, they will have merely as much relevance as slabbing companies do now.
    --

    Ed. S.

    (EJS)
  • pb2ypb2y Posts: 1,461


    << <i>A computer cannot tell me whether or not I like the coin, so who cares if/when computers can grade coins? Frankly, they will have merely as much relevance as slabbing companies do now. >>



    It is a good thing this logic has not prevailed over the last 500 years.
    We would still be riding horses and traveling the seas in sail ships.
    And coins would be struck with a hand held die and hammer.
    image

  • gummibeargummibear Posts: 786 ✭✭✭
    When computers start collecting coins. image
  • astroratastrorat Posts: 9,221 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Whether or not computers grade coins is actually irrelevant since grading is just a mechanism to establish a price. Collectors and dealers will ignore computer-assigned grades when the grade does not correspond to the perceived market value of the coin.

    It's being done right now with "bad" grading companies and to a lesser extent with "first tier" grading companies. The only difference is that now, when it suits our needs, we are ignoring what grades the humans assign.

    Lane
    Numismatist Ordinaire
    See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces

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