Population Nomenclature

oneor11

Good morning all. Can you help me understand the graded coin population nomenclature when it is presented like "PCGS 19/36", "NGC 17/87"? Thoughts I had were:

- 19 graded lower, 36 graded higher
- 36 total graded, of which this is the 19th highest

But my thoughts/guesses don't seem to jive with the CoinFacts population numbers. But then again, not all grades are listed...like AU 53. What if a coin is PCGS graded AU 53 and AU 53 is not listed in CoinFacts? Is the count grouped in the 55? Or does the count just disappear?

So to recap: 1. What does the "slash" population nomenclature mean? 2. What if a grade doesn't show up as a column in CoinFacts? Where does the population number go? Is there a way to see it? Examples: AU 53, VF 35, etc.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Jacob

DAM

Example:

1883 Morgan Dollar MS63 Pop = 200/237 (I made up those numbers)

First number is the pop for MS63

Second number is "all remaining grades higher".

oneor11

Fantastic. Thanks Dan.

MilkmanDan

Yep. Good question though.

MonteCarlo

One thing to add... Remember that the numbers are not true population numbers. Because of crackouts and resubmitions, the numbers really reflect the number of times PCGS has given out that grade, not the number of coins in that grade.

illini420

Also remember that many use the population numbers in misleading ways.


For example, I have a few of the 1909 VDB Lincoln Cents in PCGS MS66BN, last I checked, those are pop 10/0 coins!!! Nice!!!

Of course, what that number doesn't tell you is that there are a couple hundred coins graded MS66RB or better and many more graded MS66RD or better. PCGS reports independent pop data for the various designations like the copper color designations (BN, RB & RD). Similarly, you'll have different pop numbers in Morgans for PL, DMPL and non-PL coins.

WTCG

<< <i>Good morning all. Can you help me understand the graded coin population nomenclature when it is presented like "PCGS 19/36", "NGC 17/87"? Thoughts I had were:

- 19 graded lower, 36 graded higher
- 36 total graded, of which this is the 19th highest

But my thoughts/guesses don't seem to jive with the CoinFacts population numbers. But then again, not all grades are listed...like AU 53. What if a coin is PCGS graded AU 53 and AU 53 is not listed in CoinFacts? Is the count grouped in the 55? Or does the count just disappear?

So to recap: 1. What does the "slash" population nomenclature mean? 2. What if a grade doesn't show up as a column in CoinFacts? Where does the population number go? Is there a way to see it? Examples: AU 53, VF 35, etc.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Jacob >>



PCGS 19/36 means PCGS has graded 19 coins in that grade while there are 36 that are graded higher than that grade. NGC 17/87 means NGC has graded 17 coins at that grade while 87 coins graded higher.