VKurtB

Why? There is nothing about any sort of counter stamp that precludes an MS range grade. A counter stamp is not wear. 

I’m an old timer. I’ve been collecting for 57 years, and I’m now a senior citizen under most definitions. Where I differ from many old timers is I never found a point in time in which all grading made logical sense to me, so I’ve constantly strived to get a “better” grading system. That’s one of my main quarrels with the chief moderator over at CT. He has a date in his mind, somewhere some 30-some years ago, where he thinks grading was perfect as he has refused to continue evolving. 
 
Heck, there are way too many in this hobby, and on this board, who gave up learning anything new in 1964/65, because they have a fetish for a particular metal and concept of value and of money itself. I keep telling people that if I ever get that way, it’s time to shoot me. At no point will it be okay to insist that change needs to stop here. No point ever. Tastes change. What people find important changes. Embrace the changes, don’t fight them.
 
There is one aspect of grading that I do not SUPPORT, because I choose not to, but I continue to RECOGNIZE it, because at the end, the market decides. That aspect is wild toning. I hate that stuff, but it affects grades, and not by only a little. So I need to grit my teeth and use it as part of grades, even if it’s all BS in my opinion, and it is that.

There is no universally agreed upon definition of “acid washed”. It is not a Numismatic term of art.

That class will either blow, or expand, your mind. It will give you the opportunity to see more coins, with more possible issues, than in any week any other way, and a lifetime, for some.

I am both an ANA member, and one of their National Volunteers, who work for the ANA at all of their conventions, both the early Spring and the Summer ones, when we’re not hunkering down. I have looked at, but not gone through all of, their webinars. I did take a live one prior to a past March convention at Orlando. And I have taken several of their “correspondence courses” in the past. I am also a competitive exhibitor, and a certified exhibit judge. Never both in the same classes and years.
I highly recommend each and every ANA sponsored educational experience, whether online or live. You will get mainstream information at the current state of the hobby, not the paleo-beliefs so often on display here. 

I am both an ANA member, and one of their National Volunteers, who work for the ANA at all of their conventions, both the early Spring and the Summer ones, when we’re not hunkering down. I have looked at, but not gone through all of, their webinars. I did take a live one prior to a past March convention at Orlando. And I have taken several of their “correspondence courses” in the past. I am also a competitive exhibitor, and a certified exhibit judge. Never both in the same classes and years.
I highly recommend each and every ANA sponsored educational experience, whether online or live. You will get mainstream information at the current state of the hobby, not the paleo-beliefs so often on display here. 

Yes, this. But keep in mind how the world works. The Mint, or anyone else, doesn't need to prove what your coin is not, you need to prove what you say it is. That's the way science works.

I use a stereo optical microscope for those cases, VERY RARE, when I need over 7x magnification. Most digital scopes have an optical and a digital magnification. Digital is useless to you. It provides interpolation, also known as “filling in the actual information with guesses” when you go higher than the optical magnification. Also, jpeg files themselves also include “guesses” for what goes in between actual pixels. Both are the natural enemy of useful coin information. 
 
My optical scope has a third viewing tube, where I can insert my Sony a6000 camera. I never use either a phone camera nor a digital microscope for coin use.

I hate digital microscopes for coins. They add more digital artifacts than they reveal. 

I hate digital microscopes for coins. They add more digital artifacts than they reveal. 

Have any of you ever encountered the Hertzbrung-Russell Diagram in astronomy? It is a graph that plots luminosity against temperature of stars. There is a so-called "main sequence"  of stars that are, for lack of an excessively accurate and understandable term, "normal" stars. That is where most stars reside. Numismatics and grading have a similar "main sequence", and that is where most coins lie, where level of preservation replaces temperature, and grade/value replaces luminosity. Here's the rub - just as there are non-main-sequence stars, there are non-main-sequence coins. Coins with other non-preservation faults are the dwarf stars. Extreme rarities are the super-giants, etc. What is happening lately is the main sequence now has a wrinkle in it, where AU58-MS62 get intertwined. One of two things had to happen. Either we could have a system where some AU coins brought better prices than some MS coins, or we needed to redefine AU58-MS62 to make it fit the market. And that is what is under way. If we tick off a few traditionalists, I'm waaaaaay more than okay with that.

Roger has strong opinions, VERY strong ones. But he writes about them as if they are absolute truths, rather than offering them in the vocabulary of opinion. Not only are very many of his views merely opinions, they are very thinly held opinions in the field.

The very same Ratzie33 who has proclaimed a regular ol' Brazilian coin to be a 1918 pattern half dollar? That well-known expert?? [/sarcasm on steroids]

Same here and I'm at 18 years. This thread is a bit different. In the past, the long threads had many on both sides of the issue. With this thread there are are only two with a different opinion and they have shown that they know nothing about the hobby or the topic. 

That’s easy to explain. CU will ban you if you so much as hint that their grading firm isn’t perfect, and CT is run by egotistical maniacs who are both blind and stupid, or going senile. So what’s left?

In Mandarin, if at all.

I don't know if Quintus Arrias thinks he's being cute or ironic, or whatever, but being encouraging or solicitous of RichieRich2020's nonsense in any way whatsoever is serving nobody's best interests - not Quintus', not RichieRich2020's and most certainly not the hobby's at large. It only serves to promote or engender blatant misinformation in this hobby that already suffers from far too much of it already. We need to shut down this pernicious garbage as if we were collectively Barney Fife. No, darn it, it's not important to be nice, it's important to be correct.
 
So far we've got a clown and a clown car driver working together. Any big shoe vendors or makeup artists want to join in?

In EVERY country I know of that has abandoned its 1 cent piece, including Switzerland and Canada, $9.03 rounds UP to $9.05, while $9.02 rounds DOWN to $9.00. In short, 1, 2, 6, and 7 round DOWN and 3, 4, 8, and 9 round UP. And the rounding is only done at the total bill, never on individual items. Why is this idea so confounding to the American brain? Are we just simply that dumb?
 

This is where you have no clue  who you are talking to or about. You are nothing but a little newbie TROLL that came on this forum to convince somebody that your damaged dime was worth something other than 10c. Everyone that you have tried to influence with your arrogance, has told you it's worth a dime. You have been given opinions from  some of the most respected people in the industry and yet you cry and stomp your little feet because it's not what you want to hear. You give excuses for not wanting to send it to any of the top TPG's because I think we all know why, you know it's junk and, like a troll, just can't give up irritating people. You created more havoc in  this one thread on this forum than I have seen in quite some time. I'm really surprised that NGC has let this worthless thread run sooo long. I will be blocking you after this post. You are nothing but an immature, supposed 40 yr old man??? LOL You act just like the adult children  of today. Someone who lives in their mommy's house, no job, playing video games and visiting internet forums and pretending to be someone that you are not. In my opinion, you are nothing but a POS and I'm done entertaining you. If NGC doesn't start removing trolls like yourself sooner, this forum will go even further downhill!!!! YOU NEED HELP!!!

Okay, I confess, it's me. I caused it. I'm the guy. I have too many coins. It's 1964 all over again. I feel so dirty now. 

I use and recommend the Saflip brand flips made by E&T Kointainer, the Mylar capsule people. They are fully inert but “crispy”, not soft, so keep handling at a minimum, and be especially careful when inserting the coins. They come in 2x2 and 2.5x2.5 inch sizes. 
 
https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/products/e-t-kointainer/
 

However, in the 2010 census, that jurisdiction became covered under Section 203. Our case was in 2001.
 
When the USDOJ tried the same thing against Philadelphia, Philly fought back and they won. My commissioners wussed out.

And another "condition snob" is born. My brother!!