Introduction to Grading Coins

By Tom Becker | Wed, 29 Mar 2006

Grading is measuring the present condition of a coin to a theoretically perfect example of the same piece. I used theoretical in the above statement because no perfect examples of many coins exist that could be used for comparison purposes. I could be a nitpicker and suggest that no perfect coins exist at all. Show me any coin, regardless of the grade, and I can find something wrong with it. Not only are we interested in knowing how a coin of a certain type may rank in comparison to perfection, but also how the coin measures up to all others of it's kind, and all other coins. Coin grading has established levels of imperfection. It is not enough to say a coin is less than perfect.

Since the condition of a coin can range from being so worn as to be hardly identifiable to as well preserved as the day it dropped from the dies, the coin grader is obliged to categorize very different looking objects. The currently popular grading standard gives perfection the number 70 and the lowest grade of 1 to a coin in poor condition. If you are new to the hobby you might ask why we don't grade coins based on a scale of one to ten or use 100 as the top grade and 1 as the lowest. The answer is because the system we now use was borrowed from a method of ranking the condition of United States Large cents. The original inventor did not intend for their system to be used for all coins.

The current numerical system we use to grade coins might suggest that there are seventy different grades since there are seventy numbers involved. Actually, the current system doesn't use all the numbers available because there is apparently no use for some of them, at least when money matters. For example, a coin grader, unless they wish to be unorthodox, can give an Extremely Fine graded coin a numerical grade of EF-40 or EF-45. Someone who decided to use the numbers in between might be asked why they are doing unnecessary hair splitting. Money-wise what does it matter if a coin is graded EF-40 or EF-41? Why is it then that we use every number allocated to the mint state grades, those being MS-60 through MS-70? The answer is because with mint state coins, each slight difference in grade can be measured in monetary terms. Another consideration is that factors not directly linked to grading can have a profound influence on value, especially in the circulated grades. A Large cent which grades but VF may well be considered more desirable and valuable than an EF grade coin that has porous surfaces. A beautifully toned EF coin may be worth more to many collectors than a dull AU example. This is not to say that subjective factors don't influence the value of uncirculated coins; however, as of this writing an ugly MS-64 grade coin is still most often worth more than a pretty MS-63.