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Grading and the double bell curve.
cladking
Posts: 28,720 ✭✭✭✭✭
There's probably little truth in the obvious supposition that the production of coins
by the mint will always result in the coins falling on a bell curve of grade or quality.
It may well be true that if grading is broken down into its constituent parts that
there will tend to be some bell curves with some of these well defined and with lit-
tle skew but with the definitions the hobby uses to force grading of uncs into 11
discreet grades this probably largely breaks down altogether.
Be that as it may, there is some tendency for most dates to cluster around a middle
grade and taper off toward the lower and higher grades, i.e. a classic bell curve.
With most moderns if you look at enough coins you'll probably come to believe that
there is actually a second bell curve which is far smaller toward the high end of the
curve. The major curve is likely caused by the random chance that affects a coin from
the time its planchet is cut from the strip to the time it is wheeled into the local bank.
The higher curve is probably caused by individual intention or by the nature of systems
to occasionally work as they are designed. It is the odd coin, indeed, which is lucky
enough to be fully struck by dies in good condition on a clean planchet and then make
it out of the mint without being gouged or dented, but this is the way this system was
designed on paper.
It is people who still make coins though and these people do sometimes have the op-
portunity to do things that will affect the end result.
Whatever the cause these coins above the curve are always breathtaking examples of
the coiner's art. While the more typical coins can be spectacular as well, it's those which
are a couple cuts above that generate more excitement. If you look for FS Jeffersons
and never see a step on a date and then see a FS, you'll know the excitement. If you
seek a nice clean '69 quarter and never see one that isn't heavily ticked then you'll un-
derstand why people get excirted about a PL or a nearly clean example.
by the mint will always result in the coins falling on a bell curve of grade or quality.
It may well be true that if grading is broken down into its constituent parts that
there will tend to be some bell curves with some of these well defined and with lit-
tle skew but with the definitions the hobby uses to force grading of uncs into 11
discreet grades this probably largely breaks down altogether.
Be that as it may, there is some tendency for most dates to cluster around a middle
grade and taper off toward the lower and higher grades, i.e. a classic bell curve.
With most moderns if you look at enough coins you'll probably come to believe that
there is actually a second bell curve which is far smaller toward the high end of the
curve. The major curve is likely caused by the random chance that affects a coin from
the time its planchet is cut from the strip to the time it is wheeled into the local bank.
The higher curve is probably caused by individual intention or by the nature of systems
to occasionally work as they are designed. It is the odd coin, indeed, which is lucky
enough to be fully struck by dies in good condition on a clean planchet and then make
it out of the mint without being gouged or dented, but this is the way this system was
designed on paper.
It is people who still make coins though and these people do sometimes have the op-
portunity to do things that will affect the end result.
Whatever the cause these coins above the curve are always breathtaking examples of
the coiner's art. While the more typical coins can be spectacular as well, it's those which
are a couple cuts above that generate more excitement. If you look for FS Jeffersons
and never see a step on a date and then see a FS, you'll know the excitement. If you
seek a nice clean '69 quarter and never see one that isn't heavily ticked then you'll un-
derstand why people get excirted about a PL or a nearly clean example.
tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
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