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Is Coin grading a perishable skill?
braddick
Posts: 24,773 ✭✭✭✭✭
Is coin grading like riding a bike? Once you've sort of mastered it, you're set for a lifetime.
Or, is it a skill set that unless practiced either in application or for fun, something that can be easily lost?
peacockcoins
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Whenever I take a break I tend to get rusty
If you don't keep up with it, you tarnish.
Like riding a bike... on a course that keeps changing around you.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Like riding a bike, but where your bike is replaced by a different one if you don't use it for a while.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
I don't think you get rusty as you can apply your skills to daily life.
As an example I recently left the produce section of the grocery store as I couldn't find an Apple over MS-64
Seriously you are never completely away from coins as you can practice on pocket change.
The knowledge of coins and grading technique probably aren’t lost. However, eyesight can (and probably does) change and without at least occasional practice, all-important perspective can be lost.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Yes, I tend to believe this. My old mentor, who used to be an ace, has diminished in his abilities to grade coins accurately, I am sure age has a lot to do with it, but also being retired, not seeing and handling coins has worked against him as well.
jim
it's like riding a bike but you need to practice on a regular basis to keep your skills at their sharpest.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
It depends on whether you believe that the grading standards are static or dynamic.
All of those annoying pigmentation spots really limit the eye appeal.
My only problem is forgetting to use a loop now that I am older. Damn! Where did that scratch come from?
With market grading, it’s important to keep up to date with the market.
Absolutely !!!
When you see some real problems with some MS-70 coins but absolutely no problems with some MS-69 coins - then you know that there is a problem.
I knew it would happen.
Like most skills, application - or practice - is necessary to maintain peak performance. While one does not forget the basics, performance degrades when the skill is not exercised. There are also physical changes as we age. Cheers, RickO
I've seen many coins where "grading skill" was DOA.
Then there are the times when you buy a poorly-graded MS-69 coin for your Registry Set on BST and the seller won't take it back after it only takes a glance to see what a disaster the coin is. That's when you send the coin in for re-grading and it comes back MS-66. That's when you know there's a problem, or I should say problems.
I knew it would happen.
When I was a dealer, out looking for want list and inventory items, I would see a fair number of over graded coins. After I day of looking at that material, I'd come home thinking that standards were too high. Then I would look at my own collection and get my grading eyes back on track.
Some people say that a dealer should not collect anything. That is rubbish. My collection gave a touchstone to keep my grading skills sharp. It's really easy to fall into the world of watered down standards when that is mostly what you see.
@MFeld posted: "The knowledge of coins and grading technique probably aren’t lost. However, eyesight can (and probably does) change and without at least occasional practice, all-important perspective can be lost."
I agree. Fortunately, some old guys
use the "Great Equalizer." It does for coins what the Colt did for the West.