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| An American Point of View | |
| The shift in emphasis from collecting to investing has created a new market and demand for coins resulting in more stringent grading methods, and pricing geared to the perceived rarity of coins in various levels of uncirculated perfection. Coins in high grades of condition that have been certified and encapsulated (slabbed) may be valued at multiples of similar coins that have not been so graded. The "raw" (non-serviced) coins that are listed in our catalogue are valued at what collectors normally pay for such items without encapsulation, and in many cases will be lower than what is charged for "investment" coins. | |
| For hundreds of years of years rare coins and precious metals have proven themselves to be an excellent hedge against inflation and source of ready money in times of disaster. There is no reason to think that this will change in the future. Gone are the days when coin collecting was only a passive hobby for those who would study the history and artistry of these enjoyable objects. It has now grown into an activity where speculation on the future demand for rare coins has made them a part of many investment portfolios. | |
| With this change in attitude about collecting has come a measure of concern for those who purchase coins without the background or experience necessary to avoid costly mistakes in accepting overpriced or overgraded coins that simply are not worth what is paid for them. Extreme caution is advised for anyone considering an investment in rare coins. Investigate the person or firm with whom you are dealing. Seek professional non-biased help with grading determinations. Satisfy yourself that the coins you select are not priced considerably higher than is being charged by other dealers. | |
| "Official Red Book of United States Coins" 55th Edition | |
| R.S.Yeoman, Edited by K.Bressett 2002 | |
| A British Point of View | |
| It is not really necessary to go into the details of American grading here, since it is only on a very few occasions that a British collector will order the coins he wants directly from an American dealer. However, across the Atlantic their grading system is quite different from ours, and whilst it purports to be a lot more accurate, it is actually more prone, in our opinion, to be abused, and we prefer the English dealers' more conservative methods of grading. American dealers use many more terms than we do, ranging from Mint State to About Good. The latter could be described as 'very heavily worn, with portions of lettering, date legible. In England we would simply say 'Poor'. | |
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The other area which British collectors will find difficult to evaluate is the American numerical method of describing coins, as, for example, MS 70, MS 65. The MS simply stands for Mint State and an M65 would be described as 'an above average Uncirculated coin which may be brilliant or lightly toned, but has some surface marks'. The MS system seemed to be acceptable at first but there now appears to be two schools of thought in America and you will quite frequently see coins graded in the more traditional manner as well as the MS style in sale catalogues. Fortunately American grades have not come into use in this country, although dealers have followed the American manner of embellishing coin descriptions to make them more desirable, which is understandable and in many ways can be an improvement on the old method of saying simply that the coin is 'Fine', which, of course, might not do justice to it. | |
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British Coin Market Values 2001 | |
| The 1 - 70 Grading Scale | |
| Dr. William H. Sheldon, a prominent collector, had promulgated this system in his 1949 book Early American Cents, which was subsequently revised and reissued as Penny Whimsy. | |
| Sheldon described his system as a "quantitative grading of condition". It was based upon the value of the 1794 large cent, a bellwether coin in the series, in various levels of preservation during the second quarter of the twentieth century. Sheldon observed that cents of that date in the lowest collectible conditions - "identifiable and unmutilated" - were selling for about one dollar a piece, so he established $1as the basal value and assigned a grade of 1 to coins in that level of preservation. Noting that examples in Good condition were selling for about four dollars each, he assigned these a numerical grade of 4. Continuing in this manner, Sheldon came up with numerical grades of 7 to 10 for Very Good, 12 to 15 for Fine, 20 to 30 for Very Fine, 40 for Extremely Fine, 50 for About Uncirculated, and 60 to 70 for Mint State. | |
| The Advent of Certified Grading | |
| The introduction of official coin-grading standards by the ANA in the late 1970s represented a major step forward. Prior to that time, there was no uniform yardstick for measuring the grade of a given coin. On the contrary, the coin market was almost as chaotic as a Middle Eastern bazaar and as unrefined as a frontier town in America's Wild West. In the absence of a recognized set of values, coin buyers had relatively little guidance regarding what an "uncirculated" coin really was, or how a "gem" uncirculated coin differed from one that was "choice". The only choice involved, it seemed, was how each dealer chose to describe his merchandise, since there as no law of the land - and, for that matter, no sheriff to enforce even rudimentary frontier justice. | |
| The process of bringing order from chaos began in earnest in March 1979, when the ANA Certification Service (ANACS), established seven years earlier to authenticate the genuineness of coins, started grading coins submitted for its review, using standards based on the Sheldon scale. The timing could not have been better; the coin market was booming, and the new grading service gained immediate acceptance from buyers and sellers alike as a welcome source of stability - a means to instill greater confidence, thereby reinforcing the bull market. | |
| Unfortunately, neither the bull market nor confidence in the ANACS grading lasted very long. As prices began to fall in the early 1980s, dealers who had earlier complained that ANACS was undergrading now complained that the same coin with the same certificate was overgraded. ANACS came under intense new scrutiny, much of it hostile. Coin dealers, plagued by plummeting profits, complained that the ANACS grading was partially to blame, terming it inconsistent and all too often inaccurate. They further complained that the ANACS graders lacked the levels of competence and experience needed for such demanding work and that they were out of touch with commercial considerations in the marketplace. | |
| The controversy threatened to wipe out the gains made during ANACS' formative years - the progress that had taken place in bringing uniformity to grading. Commercial grading, it appeared, had indeed become inconsistent; a coin that was Mint State-65 in a hot market would shrink to Min State-63 when the marketplace was depressed and the dealer who had sold the coin was buying it back. And confidence in the process was shrinking too. In 1985, a group of prominent coin dealers headed by David Hall came up with a solution that not only restored the market's confidence in the grading process but literally revolutionized the way rare coins are bought and sold. | |
| "Official Guide to Coin Grading" PCGS 1997, | |
| S.A. Travers, J.W. Dannreuther | |
| Grade | Description |
| PO - 1 |
Identifiable date and type |
| FR - 2 | Mostly worn, though some detail is visible |
| AG - 3 | Worn rims but most lettering is readable though worn |
| G - 4 | Slightly worn rims, flat detail, peripheral lettering nearly full |
| G - 6 | Rims complete with flat detail, peripheral lettering full |
| VG - 8 | Design worn with slight detail |
| VG - 10 | Design worn with slight detail, slightly clearer |
| F - 12 | Some deeply recessed areas with detail, all lettering sharp |
| F - 15 | Slightly more detail in the recessed areas, all lettering sharp |
| VF - 20 | Some definition of detail, all lettering full and sharp |
| VF - 25 | Slightly more definition in the detail and lettering |
| VF - 30 | Almost complete detail with flat areas |
| VF - 35 | Detail is complete but worn with high points flat |
| EF - 40 | Detail is complete with most high points slightly flat |
| EF - 45 | Detail is complete with some high points flat |
| AU - 50 | Full detail with friction over most of the surface, slight flatness on high points |
| AU - 53 | Full detail with friction over 1/2 or more of surface, very slight flatness on high points |
| AU - 55 | Full detail with friction on less than 1/2 surface mainly on high points |
| AU - 58 | Full detail with only slight friction on the high points |
| MS / PR - 60 | No wear. May have many heavy marks / hairlines, strike may not be full |
| MS / PR - 61 | No wear. Multiple heavy marks / hairlines, strike may not be full |
| MS / PR - 62 | No wear. Slightly less marks / hairlines, strike may not be full |
| MS / PR - 63 | Moderate number / size marks / hairlines, strike may not be full |
| MS / PR - 64 | Few marks / hairlines or a couple of severe ones, strike should be average or above |
| MS / PR - 65 | Minor marks / hairlines though none in focal areas, above average strike |
| MS / PR - 66 | Few minor marks / hairlines not in focal areas, good strike |
| MS / PR - 67 | Virtually as struck with slight imperfections, very well struck |
| MS / PR - 68 | Virtually as struck with slight imperfections, slightest weakness of strike allowed |
| MS / PR - 69 | Virtually as struck with miniscule imperfections, near full strike necessary |
| MS / PR - 70 | As struck, with full strike |
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appointment only, as goods are not kept on the premises. Contact us - The Randburg Coin Team: We look forward to hearing from you. Randburg Coin was established in 1980 and later bought Bickels Coins which was established in 1964 and incorporated it into the existing operations. We have been buying and selling for more than 30 years. |
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