PCGS Photo Grading Contest #3 RESULTS!

Danye West

Alright folks, here are the results! Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations to our winner Messydesk, with a very impressive 9 correct and 1 close!

Answers:
1. MS65
2. MS62
3. AU58
4. AU50
5. EF40
6. F12
7. MS67
8. AU50
9. G4
10. G6

Scores:

Name: Correct: Close: Wrong: Score:
Messydesk 9 1 0 95% FIRST PLACE!
Ikeigwin 8 2 0 90% SECOND PLACE!
Cameonut 7 3 0 85% THIRD PLACE!
Joebb21 6 3 1 75%
Illini420 5 4 1 70%
OldIndianNutCase 5 4 1 70%
Jedm 6 2 2 70%
MANOFCOINS 6 2 2 70%
Slider23 6 2 2 70%
BillJones 6 1 3 65%
Clarkbar04 4 4 2 60%
FranklinHalfAddict 4 4 2 60%
Mannie Gray 5 2 3 60%
Jtlee321 4 4 2 60%
Rexford 4 4 2 60%
CoinKat 4 3 3 55%
Insider2 4 3 3 55%
1630Boston 4 3 3 55%
WinLoseWin 2 7 1 55%
Mach1ne 4 3 3 55%
Roadrunner 4 3 3 55%
PocketArt 4 2 4 50%
David3142 2 6 2 50%
JeffMTampa 3 3 4 45%
Coinhack 2 5 3 45%
MorganDollar1878 3 3 4 45%
SullivanNumismatics 2 4 4 40%
Vam44 3 3 4 45%
Kaz 3 2 4 40%
USMarine6 2 4 4 40%
PKing 2 4 4 40%
Stealer 1 5 4 35%
Cnncoins 1 4 5 30%
MICHAELDIXON 2 2 6 30%
Dpoole 2 2 6 30%
AngryTurtle 2 2 6 30%
MS70 2 2 6 30%
BigMoose 0 6 4 30%
Rollerman 1 3 6 25%
Commemking 1 2 7 20%

mannie gray

Cool....thanks for taking your time to give us a little fun.
I appreciate it.

messydesk

Cool! Fun contest. I was torn between two grades on the gold and the bust half, so I could have just as easily missed those as guessed correctly.

Rollerman

As per usual, I undergraded the gold. It's a fun exercise, thanks for putting it "out there".

roadrunner

Good times. The one coin of the group that really surprised me was the 1865 XF40 Indian cent. While it did have essentially XF detail it has an etched/corroded "appearance" with plenty of greenish-black gunk in the devices. Figured it would get netted down at least a grade for that. Not a coin I would ever care to buy as XF. I'd also be a happy buyer of that 1800 draped bust gold as MS62.

The whole point of these is to critically assess your strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, everyone puts down their grades before looking at other opinions. That 39-s nickel was a back-breaker. While it sort of looked choice/gem mint state you had to make a decision between MS XX or AU because of all those "lines" in the field, whatever they were. Some could have been polishing. No doubt a coin that in hand would have been much easier to decipher.

morgandollar1878

I didn't do so hot this time. Thanks for posting these contests though they are fun to do and I know they take time to set up and run.

BillJones

With 60% I did okay, but I do disagree with a couple the grades I got wrong.

5. the 1865 cent has granular surfaces. I net graded it to VF-30 because of that. Calling that piece an EF-40 is just wrong.

6. the 1843 cent has a ton of wear plus minor corrosion spots on the reverse. There is no way that coin could be called a Fine. It's a Good 4 at best. If you think that the word "LIBERTY" is a grading point, it isn't. That letters are so deep into that design that you could see them on an AG-3 or parts of them on a FR-02.

And yes, I'd be a buyer of that 1800 gold eagle, #2, it were priced as an MS-62 in today's grading market.

brg5658

I have no horse in this race...but, given that @cameonut2011 gave 2 numerical grade guesses for 2 of the coins, I don't think he should be given "correct" points for such grades.

It's sort of humorous seeing some of the "know-it-all" folks down toward the bottom of the list.

roadrunner

You could send those 10 coins back in again raw, and see how they grade differently....and they surely would. That could be grading contest #4.

In my mind Joebb21 at least tied for 3rd. And don't get too critical of anyone who scored low. The proof of the pudding is in buying/selling these coins on the bourse floor. Grading by photos is a good skill to have...you can eliminate a lot of coins you have no interest in. Grading a coin accurately in hand is an even better skill to have. I see some people in the lower third that I would be confident in their opinions on coins they have seen. The results say that one of them only got one coin right.....and in my evaluation of their results....they only got one coin wrong.

messydesk

@BillJones said:
With 60% I did okay, but I do disagree with a couple the grades I got wrong.

5. the 1865 cent has granular surfaces. I net graded it to VF-30 because of that. Calling that piece an EF-40 is just wrong.

I was thinking the same thing when I said 35. Didn't like the surfaces. Plus there doesn't seem to be separation of the ribbon from the hair.

6. the 1843 cent has a ton of wear plus minor corrosion spots on the reverse. There is no way that coin could be called a Fine. It's a Good 4 at best. If you think that the word "LIBERTY" is a grading point, it isn't. That letters are so deep into that design that you could see them on an AG-3 or parts of them on a FR-02.

I didn't care for this coin, either, and it would probably sell as an EAC net G6 or something like that. Of course, the contest was to guess what PCGS graded it, so in this respect, I disagreed with one I got right.

**Sorry for the large print. I did not type it in that way, and I have no idea how to fix it. **

I think putting a '#' sign in front of 5 and 6 might have influenced it. Since they show up in the quote when I reply, but not in your post that we see, they might carry some special formatting meaning. Edit your post and try removing them.

oih82w8

Congrats messydesk!

BillJones

I think putting a '#' sign in front of 5 and 6 might have influenced it. Since they show up in the quote when I reply, but not in your post that we see, they might carry some special formatting meaning. Edit your post and try removing them.

Thank you!

CommemKing

Wow. I don't think I got enough sleep before that test.

cameonut2011

@brg5658 said:
I have no horse in this race...but, given that @cameonut2011 gave 2 numerical grade guesses for 2 of the coins, I don't think he should be given "correct" points for such grades.

He is welcome to remove me from the roster completely. I was doing this for fun and to gauge how my interpretation of current PCGS standards compares to PCGS's interpretation of its own standards. I don't care where I fell in the pack. Some of you take this stuff too seriously.

cameonut2011

Congratulations Messydesk!

1630Boston

Thanks for your time in posting this contest

kaz

That was fun, boy was I off on that jeff nickel!

dpoole

Terrific exercise! I'd enjoy it if this were a regular feature to hone our skills (admittedly, mine need a lot of honing!)

joebb21

thanks for the great contest.
Looking back over my "mistakes"

i would still grade #4 au53.5 instead of AU50 and if I owned it i would be cracking.
5. I called vf30 but was debating with the XF and lowered for corrosion. Maybe in hand I would have said vf35 or xf40
6. I called vg10 and they said f12. Details was so borderline f12 but I just felt damage and PVC and really no reason to go f12 but thats splitting hairs. Honestly the coin is not appealing to me in either holder
10. i called vg 8 vs g6. i graded the coin g7.99999. This is probably one of the strongest G candidates out there and i thought eye appeal definitely deserves the vg grade.

1630Boston

I'm just thrilled that I was in the middle of the pack......last time I think I was dead last

WinLoseWin

Well I take great pride in my record setting achievement:

• Lowest score for someone getting only 1 completely wrong (the 1939-S 5c - guessed MS-63)
• Highest score for getting only 2 exact
• Most close but no cigar with 7

WinLoseWin 2 7 1 55%

Now if these coins were sent to be regraded, or knew of any past grades, I could turn out to be even more of an idiot or more of a genius. It's a fine line between the two. For some there isn't a line at all and some of us stay far away from the line.

Actually it was an interesting exercise in guessing grades from pictures.

----guess----------------Answers:

.
1. MS-66 --- 1. MS65
2. MS-62 --- 2. MS62
3. MS-63 --- 3. AU58
4. AU-53 --- 4. AU50
5. VF-35 --- 5. EF40
6. VG-10 --- 6. F12
7. MS-66 --- 7. MS67
8. EF-45 --- 8. AU50
9. G-4 --- 9. G4
10. VG-8 --- 10. G6
.
.

coinkat

Thanks for hosting this... Good mixture of coins with some tough ones. I am surprised with some of the grades... The Indian looked to have EF details and I suppose I net graded it severely. The 1866 5 was only a 50... I thought it was better that but apparently not.

PocketArt

I appreciate your efforts on hosting the contest Danye. I ended up in the middle again so at least consistent! I don't follow it; but, your contests sort of remind me of a season of NASCAR. Maybe tally up all the scores after so many challenges to show who's leading the pack? Just thoughts but either way cool!

Thank you for your time in putting this together!

CommemKing

"I'm just thrilled that I was in the middle of the pack......last time I think I was dead last"

I resemble that comment!

brg5658

@cameonut2011 said:

@brg5658 said:
I have no horse in this race...but, given that @cameonut2011 gave 2 numerical grade guesses for 2 of the coins, I don't think he should be given "correct" points for such grades.

He is welcome to remove me from the roster completely. I was doing this for fun and to gauge how my interpretation of current PCGS standards compares to PCGS's interpretation of its own standards. I don't care where I fell in the pack. Some of you take this stuff too seriously.

Yes, entirely too serious - as I didn't even participate. It was an objective observation. Who's the serious one taking his marbles and going home?!

jedm

Thanks for the contest, I enjoy them and like to go with my gut instinct. I was off by two grades on 5 by "guessing" 30, and also by two grades on 10. I must really have been impressed with it or something by giving it a 10. I don't think many others thought that highly of it.... Anyway lots of fun to do, and I do the same exercise every now and then with my own coins and am surprised at how my opinions change with the phase of the moon or the weather.

OldIndianNutKase

DW, thanks for putting together a great grading excercise for all of us. And congratulations to messydesk with a remarkable score. I was wrong on the 39-S nickel and remember agonizing over it's grade. But I did not see any rub in the pictures, and from review of the results, most thought it to be MS as well.

Good Fun.

OINK

ms70

Wow, I blew it this time! Thanks for the fun DW!

BGERRISH

Way to go Messydesk!