Is the alternative Grading scale catching on?
I’m struggling to understand it
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Comments
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Does 9.4 equate to details scratched on the cheek for the rest of the coin community?
Damn that’s a horrible coin
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There might be some truth to the theory of mystery boxes being nothing more than a means of getting rid of "C" coins or "unsaleable" coins.
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled11 -
No, not with me. I was late to accepting the Sheldon scale and slabbing. So, who knows, maybe down the line (when I have no choice?).
bob
Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com1 -
Typo 4.9
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@hummingbird_coins said:
There might be some truth to the theory of mystery boxes being nothing more than a means of getting rid of "C" coins or "unsaleable" coins.Coins are only "unsaleable" when they are overpriced. At the right price, all coins are saleable.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire8 -
No
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I’m struggling to accept the idiocy of it all.
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Says right on the holder it's NGC scratched.
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I had completely forgotten about it.
Professional Numismatist, Retired. 55 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner of the PNG's 2026 Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.7 -
Catching on like Esperanto.
John
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution5 -
Love it. A 5 point scale for ancients has existed for 10 or 20 years. It is much more intuitive for newbies.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
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An answer to a question nobody was asking.
Recruit new collectors? How about concentrate on consistent grading standards and use that as a tool to receive more submissions. Revenue then can be utilized to exhibit at sports card shows and educate sports card collectors on the sheldon grading scale, its not rocket science.
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To me it looks more like a 9.348, instead of the 9.4 indicated. I’d love to see it in hand.
Dave
Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.7 -
No clue what the criteria are, but on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give that a 6, at least as an Unc.
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@oldabeintx said:
No clue what the criteria are, but on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give that a 6, at least as an Unc.1 to 10 is like 1 to 70, with 9.0-10 corresponding with grades MS60 through 70.
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled3 -
And based on the photo, should be a 9 or 9.1.
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Is the alternative Grading scale catching on?
No. But if it does moderns will lead the way. Can't fathom classics on a 100 point scale being widely accepted.
If they used whole numbers it might help a bit. NGC's X-scale? Not for me. Now if we Americans ever adopt the metric system..........................
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Considering that NGC doesn't allow these 10 point graded coins into their registry I doubt it will "catch on" until NGC changes that policy.
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@fathom said:
An answer to a question nobody was asking.Recruit new collectors? How about concentrate on consistent grading standards and use that as a tool to receive more submissions. Revenue then can be utilized to exhibit at sports card shows and educate sports card collectors on the sheldon grading scale, its not rocket science.
Sure. But sports card collectors need little education on a 10 point scale since they already have one.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
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No CAC.... 😆
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
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They can have my Sheldon 70 when they pull it out from my cold dead hands!
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If that’s a “9.4”, I’d hate to see a Mint State “9.0”. Is that the former MS-60 that’s been run through a meat grinder?
These guys don’t even have the “It’s a rare date so the grading is loose” excuse. This is a 1921 Morgan Dollar, the most common Morgan of them all.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?2 -
The new scale is a joke.
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It's an excuse for the grading services to get a lot more revenue by making the Sheldon scale obsolete.
I guess many people are hung up having everything on the decimal system, yet we still use the Fahrenheit scale for temperature and the old British system from distance and weights.
The 10 or 100 point grading scale is a gimmick for the grading services to get more money out of collectors.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?8 -
I've seen very few coins other than VaultBox and some bullion. A few out of China. It's still limited to bulk submitters, regular shmoews can't request it. And it seems to be de-emphasized ATS.
-----Burton
ANA 50+ year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Author: 3rd Edition of the SampleSlabs book, https://sampleslabs.info/0 -
The real question is how is that coin a 64? Yikes.

(edited to add the picture for those that don’t know about NGC’s stated cross reference)
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
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The coin has the look of a 64, but with the sdcratch and the cheek gouge Id be inclined to net it to no more than 62, but preferably 61. At summer seminar, one of the things we were taught is that If you have to net something by 2 or more grades, thats when its time to put it in a deets holder.
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Looks over dipped to me and with a large scratch & gouge in prime focal area.
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No - they blowing in wind with me - view it as a fad. Wont invest money in them either.
Investor0 -
Once you define the correspondence like that, you've negated the new scale. It's just the same-old pig in updated lipstick.
-----Burton
ANA 50+ year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Author: 3rd Edition of the SampleSlabs book, https://sampleslabs.info/0 -
No, not with me. There’s more than enough of that already.
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
PCGS Registry: Screaming Eagles
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Long term collectors are too heavily “invested” in the existing grading system to take a new grading scale seriously. I don’t think anybody with 100+ slabbed coins would seriously consider having all of them regraded, even with just a sticker, to a new grading system. But for newbies just starting or for moderns or NCLT bullion collectors it might make sense if the new grading system is somehow more intuitive to them, but it would be a turnoff to established collectors unless some kind of dual grading where both the old way and new way were shown. But even then, it would clutter up the labels too much.
Mr_Spud
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I suspect that if it does catch on, CACG will refuse to acknowledge the grades that end in an odd decimal and round down.
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So, a 70 is 7 times better than a 10? I think I got it now.
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