Survey - (Not variety) Discussion

Popcoin

Since most of the discussion on the other thread was about the variety
question, I thought I would start a thread on the other points in the survey.

Right now, I have two questions I would like some discussion on:

1) What is the difference between a one point deduction and a 1 point bonus in the overall rating (all proofs calculated the same way)?

2) Why the cut off of 1977 for bonus points for cam and dcam?

Example: PCGS Price Guide (why does the 77 get 2 bonus points for DC and the 78 gets zero points for DC)

1977S Ike (PR69CA - $20, PR69DC - $85)
1978S Ike (PR69CA - $15, PR69DC - $80)

Thanks,
Larry

sonofagunk

1) it is just "grade inflation" (not the ICG way, but the Stanford way). Just makes people feel better that they now have an average score of 66 instead of 65. I actually like it since a 66 is now worth AT LEAST 66. The idea of having something as a 66 count as a 64 just bothered me


2) well let's just say I am glad that I dumped all of my post 1977 (well all but 1) pr70dcams. So a 1977 pr70DCAM Washington in a type set is worth 72, but a 78 pr70dcam is worth 70? Guess the type sets are going to be reworked to have "upto 77" and "78 and after" types? After all, if errors can make new "types" why can't PCGS?

keithdagen

Larry,

1977 vs 1978 is a weird cutoff. Don't know why that year was picked. Maybe there was a change in the Proof Set packaging or minting process at that point in time. Would make more sense to cut off at 1976.

Adding points instead of deducting is psychological, but is a nice touch. Instead of taking away points for a poor strike (FBL, FB, FH) or preservation (RD, RB, or BN) you get additional credit for having them. Plus, I like the idea of a sliding scale for ultra-rare issues. 2 points standard but up to 5 points in special cases. This will help with the really expensive rarities in weighting.

Other points of note:

1. Dog97 gets his year sets.

2. More Type sets on the way.

3. Updates are going to be instantaneous since PCGS will not police the Owner Comments section anymore.

Keith

robbnsc

If you look closely at your proof sets, you will notice that nearly all sets, starting in 1978, are DCAM. The proof coins pre-dating 1978-S are not necessarily Cameo. In fact, large percentages of these earlier sets have devices that match the finish of the coin's field. This is why PCGS used 1977-S as the cut-off for extra points on DCAM's.

Keyrock

I like the bonus idea. Like Sonofa-gunk said a 66 is now a 66 and going the extra distance deserve acknowledgement as a bonus.

FullSteps

They probably picked the 1977/78 cut off as that is where their 1980 Redbook left off with proof listings