I just took a 'Vermont grading challenge"

ambro51

Got my copy of the 2001 hinckley sale catalog featuring 130 Vermont coppers. In the color plates at the front of the catalog, 30 pieces were illustrated . So I looked at each coin photo a few seconds and the first grade number that popped into my head,,wrote it down. Then to the full catalog descriptions ,,copied down bowers and merena grades ( all coins were raw uncertified). Well.....my grade values for the thirty plated coins was 1150. The cataloger grades added up to 993. This showed me I am overgradeing by 15% . Still though not too far off as I see it.

MidLifeCrisis

Excellent exercise. I'm going to try it...with Hinkley and with Ford.

By the way, I once owned a 1788 Vermont Ryder 16 that had a provenance to Dr. Hinkley's collection. He had nice stuff.

NewEnglandRarities

Hey Ambro,

Agree 100% with MLC, this is a fantastic exercise to do to home your grading skills of colonials. For many years I did this same thing and at the beginning I was a bit off, but as I continued I got closer and closer to the grade total from the catalog. Of course, each cataloguer has different grading tendencies (I am talking about older collections where all the colonials are raw) than others, and whether they are right or wrong on their grading is a different story all together.

ambro51

Two coins on the Vermont plates Jane the lot numbers mixed

TomB

Interesting thing to do. It also has to be realized that the cataloguers had an enormous advantage in that they presumably inspected the pieces in-hand whereas you are going simply by written descriptions and images.

ColonialCoinUnion

A better way to evaluate the Vermont Coppers in this sale is to look at the prices realized and try to determine why different examples of the same Ryder # with comparable levels of wear sold for such vastly different amounts.

USMoneylover

Thanks for bringing this up. I had never thought of doing something like this before and I think it would be a great excersise for anyone trying to improve their grading skills in any series.