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Coin Grading was meant to be a purpose to compare coins and establish value due to wear.

Unfortunately two exact coins by date and type and wear can sit side by side and one command far more than the other.

Why? Because so much else comes into the “grading of a coin”.

What you ask?

Well I will try and explain it to you.

All coins are not created equal! Not even all of the same date from the same mint made on the same day.

Why not? Because with the striking of every coin the original coin die receives some minute damage loosing ever so little of its cut in detail.

There are so many things which contribute to coins not being manufactured all of equal quality from the start.

The first coins struck will be from cold hard dies and the coin blanks will also be cold.

As the process begins heat is transferred from the deformation and reformation of the coin blank as the die is pressed into it. The die absorbs some of this heat. With each striking a little more and more heat is absorbed.

The die becomes hot and softer allowing it to deform ever so slightly but loose more and more of its fine detail.

The hydraulic fluid in the drive of the press becomes hotter and hotter as it works. As the fluid heats it loses some of its ability to perform work so the press pressure drops a little producing still softer stuck coins.

If there is a power fluctuation once again you have a press putting out a softer strike. Do we shut down industry when it storms? We continue and no one even thinks of what a power fluctuation may have done except in the computer industry.

Back to coins. Since I have shown you that not all modern coins are manufactured and produced as equals imagine coin production when man had more of a personal input into the manufacturing of coins.

If you had a bad night with the misses or you had the flu would every blow of your hammer be equal?

Now since I have show you that all coins are not produced equally you can see why it is important to collect coins that were made in the morning from brand new dies. These are the coins with full steps, split bands etc.

Coin Grading is supposed to be about wear on a coin after it was manufactured and I hope that you can clearly see that coins first made will have more detail to begin with then coins made with dies that have been striking coins for a while and are becoming tired and worn.

The super coins graded with numbers over MS65 are coins taken from the first run or early in the manufacturing process of coins.

The number unfairly describes not wear but the state of the die and where the coin fell into the production run.

Unfortunately it is impossible to give a condition to price relationship without considering many other factors and yet there are those who would have you believe the grade is everything.

These same people would have you believe that by encapsulating a coin and placing a numerical grade on it that they could be traded as a commodity by people wanting to own something certified of value in a self serving system.

This coin grading, encapsulating trade is increasing at an alarming rate and collectable coins are disappearing. Being purchased by investors not collectors who are counting on a market driven by the grading numbers placed on the coins.

Are you aware that the grades placed by all coin grading companies are treated differently by the actual dealers who know the difference in actual wear verses strike? And these are published in the Coin Dealers Newsletter in different lowered percentages of Bid.

The best and only way to grade coins is to look at a lot of them and learn how to tell the difference between what is wear and what is lost detail because of natural wear to dies in the production of the coins.

If you feel that you want to use a number or grade to show a range of where your coins fit that is fine but keep in mind it is a range not the absolute the market drivers would like you to believe.

I hope that you enjoy your collecting and look for what you want to see in/on your coins not what a Coin grading claims it to be.

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