Is Grading Coins as Crude as Grading the Opposite Sex?

Coinosaurus

OK folks, this is your chance to keep it on the high road. I hope you all will try because I think it is a good discussion.

In another thread, it was asked if we should substitute average consensus grades instead of a single grade.

And I think the whole equation of coin = number = grade = price is so fundamentally flawed that putting some sprinkles on top of it and calling it a better "consensus" doesn't hide the dirty diapers underneath.

It would be like choosing potential mates and putting numbers on them. (Oh, wait, the movie about Bo Derek.....ugh, I am getting off the "high road" already - I hope everyone else can do better than me.)

The point is, you don't get married this way. In the end it is a gut feel that you can not reduce to a number.

Grading is the same way - think of it as an opinion and understand there is a whole lot more ambiguity to it beyond the initial number.

tahoe98

...i might be wrong but i thought i saw a mushroom cloud off in the distance.

derryb

Coin grading involves much more attention to detail.
I might add that my mate has toned quite nicely over the years.

RYK

I never thought there was a parallel, and I am going to continue with my previous thinking.

LindeDad

Sorry but no coin ever made me weak in the knees.

IrishMikey

<< <i>Sorry but no coin ever made me weak in the knees. >>



That says it all, quite concisely.

airplanenut

It's a flawed comparison. When you grade a coin with numbers, you do it so there is some level of consistency between multiple people. The standardized system allows for each coin to quickly join a small band of quality, and then an in-hand look allows the coin to be placed in the right spot (your gut check). Basically, the physical attributes lead to an overall number, and that can be qualified with a description about certain qualities that led to the grade.

When it comes to people (as friends or mates), there aren't (or at least shouldn't be) numbers. No one grades a person's looks, intelligence, etc. as numbers and finds a high grade. The whole thing is a gut feeling. This is more akin to grading a coin just by price, where you don't say the coin is MS65, but rather is it worth $1000 regardless of what you call it.

Then again, looking at the divorce rate in this country, maybe grading people is like grading coins. And a lot seem to go in for a regrade and drop a few points, causing people to sell and take a big loss.

Dog97

It's the same thing. I have never married a woman that was excessively worn, weakly struck in the prime focal areas or didn't have great eye appeal. I'm descerning so therefore have no interest in the "common" ones and find better quality, value & ROI on the more desirable scarce & rare ones, even though I have to search longer to acquire them.
It's said ownership adds a point but believe me, mine are consensus graded by my associates even though I am the finalizer.

scottgardener

There is at least offhand one fundamental difference: coins actually are objects. Grading coins is respectable and an important means of understanding them. By contrast, attempting to reduce people to numbers based on arbitrary notions of beauty or earning power is reductionistic at best and blatantly sexist at worst--and usually closer to the latter end of the scale.

partagas

He who has the biggest wallet gets the prettiest girls and the best coins. So no it isn't crude, it is reality.

cladking

No matter how good of care you take of a woman she might never degrade but she'll eventually wear out.

People have far more parameters and are far more complex than a coin though there are obvious similarities.