Do you think you can grade coins?

seateddime

I assume you buy coins id you read this but can you grade them?

avgcounterfiticus

Very important for anyone coming into this hobby to learn how to grade.

FilthyBroke

Honestly, I doubt anyone can do it flawlessly, but hanging around here you can't help but learn to grade. All of the info and experience is here....use it.

lcoopie

yes, but not as well as I'd like

OKbustchaser

The series I specialize in, yes. Morgans, Lincolns, Barbers...not at all. I was never interested enough to learn how.

kryptonitecomics

Pretty much everything but gold as I have never actively collected gold.....I might same the same for the early drapped bust coins as well...but I think I could get to within 1 grade plus or minus a high percentage of the time

Broadstruck

I doubt I'll ever need to hire a grading consultant!

ccmorgan

Morgans I'm pretty good at but in general I voted no.

BECOKA

Yes and no, depends on which series.

Edited: and some series only in a certain grade range.

IrishMike

Question is too broad. Define how to grade...95% correct, 80%, 70%, more than 50%, which is it? PCGS grading contest if I remember correctly was won on the non dealer side usually in the 60-70% range with most participants less than that. So I ask is it like a baseball batting average where 300 is considered great or like a test where 60% barely passes. Besides that point the president of one of the top TPG's was overheard saying that 80% of dealers can't grade.

I truly believe that if you had to take a grading test like the one in the contest you would be disappointed, at least as how you grade compared to those who get paid for it.

seateddime

Grade coins to where you are comfortable in forming your own opinion to buy coin with. not using a TPG service

Cladiator

Yes, with limitations.

I am confident in my abilities to accurately grade capped bust half dimes in grades from 0-62. In mid to higher mint state levels I'm not all that great. For any other coin I'd defer to the opinion of an expert on the individual series.

Shamika

I trust no one other than myself when it comes to grading. PCGS does a great job, but I've seen many coins in PCGS slabs (as well as other TPG's) that cause me to scratch my head in regards to the assigned grade.

BillyKingsley

Not yet but I am learning. VF20 seems to be the grade I prefer. Stuff is readable but not perfect.

seateddime

<< <i>Yes, with limitations.

I am confident in my abilities to accurately grade capped bust half dimes in grades from 0-62. In mid to higher mint state levels I'm not all that great. For any other coin I'd defer to the opinion of an expert on the individual series. >>



that is an excellent ability

SeaEagleCoins

<< <i> Besides that point the president of one of the top TPG's was overheard saying that 80% of dealers can't grade.

<< <i>




...funny, considering that about 80% of the dealers probably think that 80%+ of the professional graders can't grade either...

MacCrimmon

I don't know about old MacCrimmon, but this collector looks like he's better than the best dealers.. Of course, I hear 80% of dealers can't grade eggs.

IrishMike

<< <i>

<< <i> Besides that point the president of one of the top TPG's was overheard saying that 80% of dealers can't grade.

<< <i>




...funny, considering that about 80% of the dealers probably think that 80%+ of the professional graders can't grade either... >>



80% of dealers probably aren't right about most things, so the number is probably not far off.

bidask

grade ....yes,

detecting altered surfaces very well, ....no

Elcontador

Re the post Classic Large Cent dated coins in series which I collect, I'd say usually, yes. However, Classic Large Cents and earlier material of all metals, as grading seems very inconsistent to me -- even by the so called experts -- , I don't think many could look you in the eye and answer 'yes.' I'm also including slabbing cleaned or otherwise problem coins re the latter.

FilthyBroke

<< <i>grade ....yes,

detecting altered surfaces very well, ....no >>





Good point.

09sVDB

Yes, but do I get it right all the time no. Within a point most of the time. Can I spot an altered coin 95% of the time.

Jcarney

<< <i>I truly believe that if you had to take a grading test like the one in the contest you would be disappointed, at least as how you grade compared to those who get paid for it. >>



Professional third party graders are not paid to grade coins. They are paid to price coins.

tombr

I'm terrible at splitting the hairs in the AU and MS ranges. I'm pretty good at the circulated grades in the series I collect. I've really improved at spotting cleaned coins, although I need them in hand. Some of the not so obvious cleaned coins are hard to spot from a pic. Of course, I can always Charley look at them, he's REAL good

pursuitofliberty

Yes, and fairly well (I believe) in the series and grades I collect. Although I often suc* at grading from pictures.

When buying slabbed, the TPG's are just a starting point.


I am okay in the grades I collect across most series.

Certain grades and coins I do not have enough experience to feel comfortable grading well.

TwoSides2aCoin

I can grade coins.

Tvac897

I post mine here and ask for opinions.

ModernDollarNut

<< <i>I don't know about old MacCrimmon, but this collector looks like he's better than the best dealers.. Of course, I hear 80% of dealers can't grade eggs. >>



Since there are no Ikes or SBAs in this testing group, I'd not do too well: knowing grading also means knowing the series and I know Ikes and SBAs well enough that I have minor quibbles with PCGS about 20% of the time. I guess if you know a series too well you might not make 80-85% either? Opinions would get in the way.

I much prefer to talk in grade ranges, specific MS numbers on Ikes often imply accuracy which simply does not exist. Rob

Moonbiter

I would say I'm a grader who is learning. I am far being an expert grader, but I'm getting a good understanding of the circulated grades in a lot of denominations. I have 3 books about grading, the PCGS book, the ANA grading book 6th edition and photograde.

So, I would say I'm in between yes and no. I'm in the dangerous area of being able to grade and not being able to grade. However I'm encouraged by how close or spot on I am on the many GTG threads here of coins in slabs.

GFourDriver

I grade by the horse shoe and hand grenade method!

DennisH

I'm pretty good with Morgans, especially circulated grades, and I'm always trying to get better.

When it comes to other series, I'm continually surprised at how much I've learned from the frequent "Guess The Grade" posts here on the boards.

Cam40

i think anyone that has good reference material and understands it could be an excellent grader.
also, once you learn that aspect of grading,you start looking at the funny stuff that
should affect the grade, ie; altered surfaces to outright fakes/counterfeits.
the more you learn, the more you see you need to learn.
in a nutshell: it takes many years of...... drinking.

Fairlaneman

Sure hope so. I'm comfortable when buying raw coins. Many have made it into slabs at higher grades than I gave the coin. This is just for the series I collect. Throw a modern at me and the sweat appears quickly.

Ken

coinkat

In all seriousness...

A margin of error needs to be included. Further, a grader usually should know their limitations

NHSBaseball

I can grade the capped bust series only with any degree of accuracy.

lordmarcovan

Yes, I am pretty confident in grading milled coins, that is, anything produced on a press after about the mid-1600s. I'm not claiming perfection, but I feel relatively comfortable with it.

Once you get back into the 16th century and earlier, however, when coins were hand-hammered, I become a bit less confident.

As a collector of Roman coins, I now have to not only learn to deal with grading hammered coins, but also with the British grading system, which is pretty standard with ancients. I doubt I could assign US Sheldon-scale numerical grades to ancient coins like I can with most world coins and tokens produced with the more "modern" technology. (Even if I could, most folks would sneer at a numerical grade attached to an ancient coin, which is one of many reasons slabs have been slow to catch on in that area.)

veryfine

If most of you were presented a handful of coins that fall under the MS-62 to MS-64 grade range, for example, your conclusions would be all over the place. I am humble enough to admit that I am more wrong than I'd like to be when grading MS-63 and MS-64 coins. Yes, I suppose this disqualifies me as an "expert" grader.

Imagine grading mint state Walking Liberty halves, Standing Liberty quarters or Peace dollars. Some of you think you know how to discern the 1 point grade differences within these series. I maintain that, for the most part, you do not. And when the TPGs assign a grade, you defiantly disagree. You then launch into "grading is not a science, grading standards have changed, market grading is at work here, buy the coin not the plastic, and even these expert graders get it wrong sometimes" rants.

I mean this with a great deal of respect, and I do believe that some of you are very experienced and astute graders. But are you a professional contrarian; one who feels a need to always disagree with slabbed grades? When professional graders at PCGS, for example, are grading thousands and thousands of coins, and you dismissively disagree, why should I believe you?

You know, we are allowed to admit that we are not the experts we claim to be.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>If most of you were presented a handful of coins that fall under the MS-62 to MS-64 grade range, for example, your conclusions would be all over the place. >>

As would the conclusions of any group of experts, including grading companies. Therein lies the rub.



<< <i>Imagine grading mint state Walking Liberty halves, Standing Liberty quarters or Peace dollars. Some of you think you know how to discern the 1 point grade differences within these series. I maintain that, for the most part, you do not. >>

I can't argue with that. (Particularly with the Peace dollars, in my personal experience- the flat relief on those gives me headaches.)

LindeDad

Don't we really grade the coin every time we place our MAX bid on it?

ProofRainbowRoosevelt

I feel very comfortable grading coins I'm familiar with, maybe 1% of all coins that are out there. JMHO, I've not been around long enough to say I can grade.