Grading early copper

39Special

Question for the board. What are the grading standards/allowances for light hairlines/cabinet friction/etc on early copper, particularly red or red brown specimens? Is this commonplace on such coins? Does it automatically drop/cap the grade at MS62 or thereabouts, or can such coins, if overall very attractive, lustrous, minimally marked, etc, grade higher? Thanks for the education.

rawmorgan

I am not an expert in early copper, but this community is. EAC

There are though many on this forum that can answer your question.

Good luck to you.

It may be helpful if you could give a specific example (with photo) for your line of inquiry.

joecopper

39 - I have been collecting early copper for 20 years and still working on grading. I can tell you that there is some work being done on a grading document but expect that it will be a long time in appearing. Bill Eckberg has an article in the July Penny Wise ("EAC Grading 101"). I do not know if Bill is on this forum. It is best to go to the catalogs and study technical and net grading. Personally I use a strict interpretation of ANA standards for technical grade and then start down for defects to net it. I do not collect UNC but believe that you need red to get above 62 for the most part. You also have to be ready to accept differences in graders - I will disagree with catalogers 10-20% of the time when doing auction analyses of price to compare to CQR.

Walkerguy21D

If you are seeing light hairlines and cabinet friction, you would be lucky to get an EAC grade of MS60, as the grading is quite strict, even among the looser members......As an aside, I guess I'd be skeptical of any "red" large cent that showed hairlines and cabinet friction.

Now the other thing to keep in mind, that even though the grading is very strict, the pricing is in line with commercial standards. So an EAC 60 coin will likely bring commercial 63 (or more) money, depending on eye appeal, etc. You don't see EAC graded coins priced with the Greysheet - well not very often anyway

MikeInFL

EAC and TPG grading are quite different in this regard. With friction/harlines, the EAC grade will be MS60 at best. TPGs have a much more liberal view and I've seen coins with friction in 65 holders.

39Special

Thanks guys for the input. What about carbon spots and such ? It seems common, you notice it more on the full red and red brown specimens of course, how much of a detractor is it in the eyes of TPG graders and the collecting community?