I remember when there were 4 grades of uncirculated...

DIMEMAN

They were UNC Choice UNC GEM and Supurb GEM!

Then we went to 11 grades of UNC.....60-70!

NOW we have more than I can count or understand!

Am I the only one who thinks this is a little crazy???

drwstr123

There were times when you looked at the coin and did or didn't buy it.

scottgardener

Cut and pasted from my post on the related thread:

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It is getting a bit wonky, but you do have to admit that if we went back to the good old days of four grades of uncirculated, if the only grades were MS60, 63,65, and 67 or 70, I'd be cherrypicking the crap out of the MS60 and 63 batches.

There aren't really effectively 90 or even effectively 19 different uncirculated grades for most coins. For, say, a common date 1880 Morgan dollar, no one will quibble whether an MS62 should really be a 63 or a 63 a 64, because the difference in sale or trade value isn't much. It's the difference between a 64 and a 65 when the difference starts counting. And, since MS69 and 70 Morgans are pretty non-existent, and I have yet to see anyone complaining that their MS68 Morgan dollar was under-graded, that makes the hair splitting range for an 1880 Morgan dollar MS65, 65+, 66, 66+, 67, and in a few uptight individuals with very cushy lives, MS67+. MS 60-62 can be grouped together in terms of overall worth to a collector, as can MS63 and 64. MS63+ is between the two grades and not going to add a lot of sale or trade value, but MS64+ might. So, while PCGS may offer 19 different real grades, and CAC stickers might add a bunch more, there are effectively: [MS60-62], [63-64], 64+, 65, 65+, 66, 66+, 67, 67+, and [68 or better], for a total of ten effective functional grades. For other coins, even Morgan dollars with a different and less common date, the number spread may be different, but the underlying logic still holds out.

Hair splitting differences in a series that is both common enough to have a good number of MS66'es and 67's, and yet rare or coveted enough to warrant splitting hairs between MS61 and 62, are few and far between. However, these will include high profile coins, like the 1909s VDB Lincoln, which, being copper, has the added joy of being brown, red-brown, or red. (Granting that "brown" may mean toned blue, purple, or even green, while "red" may mean more of a coppery orangish pinky metallic color, while an actual red could get branded "red-brown," as could toning of just about any color or mix of colors.)

DennisH

I remember those days too.
I like the system we have now better.

Twincam

In a thread on the US Coin Forum, Wondercoin asked if the "+" might eventually be expanded to include coins graded 69. The answer he received was ...
"as the grades get higher the gap between them shrinks. The difference between a 69 and 70 can be one tiny tick. I honestly don't know how we can slice it much thinner."

Quite honestly, that's how I feel about the "+" in general...demarcation points less than 1.5% apart (1/70) was enough.

PQpeace

I remember new and not new...
back when I was about 5

mumu

<< <i>In a thread on the US Coin Forum, Wondercoin asked if the "+" might eventually be expanded to include coins graded 69. The answer he received was ...
"as the grades get higher the gap between them shrinks. The difference between a 69 and 70 can be one tiny tick. I honestly don't know how we can slice it much thinner."

Quite honestly, that's how I feel about the "+" in general...demarcation points less than 1.5% apart (1/70) was enough. >>



It wasnt really 1/70th though.