Woods020

I feel like I see rub but it may be lighting. Ill say AU55. My question is what is going on with the rim? Is that finning?

MS62

Is your coin an "original," and the ones shown by NGC and PCGS later restrikes made from clashed and rusted die?
(From the photo, your coin seems to be AU55.)

Question - if this was the case, why are other obverse details, including edge of the cap and foot, clear? To uniformly reduce the size of stars, a considerable portion of the field would have to be removed. That would reduce everything in similar proportion. Here's the NGC photo (PCGS is similar) which has the expected loss of low relief detail. This looks very different from your photo, bottom.

I’ll go with MS63.

Very well struck, I cannot decern if there is any rub from the photos so I'm going with MS64, or AU58+ if there is some rub.
Fun fact that you may know, the small stars on the half dime were the result of an over polished die while on the dime it was the result of a half dime punch that was used.

They update the online price guide? When?

If you ever want to be entertained go to a show and look at raw coins. Particularly find the oldest gentleman you can find. See what their grades and prices are. It’s comical most of the time. Everything is the nicest they’ve ever seen, probably the top pop if you want to fool with one of those grading companies, and priced higher than gem slabbed examples because you can’t see what they looked like and theirs looks way better. Even though you can see what they look like. I love looking through the raw stuff but it almost always a complete waste of time and a frustration. Occasionally it’s a good experience but rarely. 

If you ever want to be entertained go to a show and look at raw coins. Particularly find the oldest gentleman you can find. See what their grades and prices are. It’s comical most of the time. Everything is the nicest they’ve ever seen, probably the top pop if you want to fool with one of those grading companies, and priced higher than gem slabbed examples because you can’t see what they looked like and theirs looks way better. Even though you can see what they look like. I love looking through the raw stuff but it almost always a complete waste of time and a frustration. Occasionally it’s a good experience but rarely. 

Informed, slow and deliberate is the best way to build a collection, regardless of collectible.

The timing is perfect. A nice 1933 double eagle is about to go to auction it seems. That would be one heck of a coinaversary gift!
 
Aside from that I’m in a similar position. I’m closing on a year and have bought way too much that is all over the board. But I’ve slowed down buying to almost nothing and reading everything I can get my hands on. I’ll tell you it’s worth the pause to educate yourself more. I’ve kicked myself several times for things I wish I had known before jumping in head first buying. Lots of great books that members can recommend if there is a certain area of focus you want to learn more about. 

Geez. I need to try and get mine a grade bump. I have a Proof 68 for this one, and it’s the most flawless coin I think I have seen. This one hurts your eyes to look at it. I love this coin, but I guess I could be persuaded to part with it for a steal at say $50k 😂. It’s currently at CAC, but I can easily ship it to you as soon as it gets back. 

Out of curiosity are you planning on putting any of your future works in an electronic format? My daughter is in her first year of college and I think we have bought two physical books in total so far. Everything is electronic it seems. I read a lot and do most of my “fun” reading on my iPad. Reference books is where I prefer a physical book, but I need to start adjusting it seems. With ebooks it’s obviously a moot point and everything is easily searchable. 
 
I do feel for you. You are writing primarily for an aged audience who want things as traditional as possible when the world is growing in use of technology around them. 

They both get to the same thing. Both are just catch all phrases used to mean uncirculated. MS is also used to denote a circulation strike from proof. 
 
What I think your question is, is why is it not numerically graded MS-xxx. TPGs do offer this type of grading to simply denote uncirculated. Some large dealers do it to save money on grading while still getting it in a holder. 

The PCGS registry angle was one I often considered to drive some degree of the disparity. 
 
I also agree with any who have referenced the slabs. To me PCGS slabs look more appealing. A personal preference and maybe many see it the other way around. I think more than anything the color scheme of NGC labels kills them. Bright blue happy color vs muted browns. I think if PCGS did anything better in the marketing world it was certainly their choice of brand colors.
Ironically I was talking to the guys at Rarcoa, one of the big wholesalers of commons and gold, and they discount PCGS ($5) simply because the holders tend to chip on the stacking edge. They leave shows with trunks full of common date stuff and I guess NGC slabs hold up to their mass production process of selling coins better. 
 
It is good to hear a lot of this info from collectors that were active during the creation of these beasts. I tend to think there isn’t much of a difference in the real word looking at coins graded by both. Both never get it 100% right and grades for the most part seem consistent. 

No FS on SMS coins.

I’m at a show in Chattanooga TN this weekend, and picked up this beauty today. Nicest 09-S VDB I have ever owned for sure. Pay no attention to my quick cell phone snaps. 
 
@Coinbuf I thought of you when I was walking away with it 

I’ve never seen these “holders” like this. I was convinced your coins were in an NGC slab and I had no idea what you were asking. Obviously I was wrong. 
 
I agree with Coinbuf on the Lincoln. You can buy one slabbed for less than it will cost you to grade it. The quarter I think I agree as well, but it wouldn’t hurt to post some more pics of it. With that said I’m 99% sure there are cleaning hairlines on the bust and face. If it’s a DDDo It’s not the valuable one (FS-103), but can’t say if it is one of the lesser ones from these pics. 

I would love for EAC to grade and holder copper coins.  However the slogan, "Make AU XF again!" will not go over with the Registry crowd.

Even though you didn't say this was a "guess the grade," I'm going to toss my opinion out there. I think the nickel will come back as a 66, maybe a 67, no cameo.

The PCGS registry angle was one I often considered to drive some degree of the disparity. 
 
I also agree with any who have referenced the slabs. To me PCGS slabs look more appealing. A personal preference and maybe many see it the other way around. I think more than anything the color scheme of NGC labels kills them. Bright blue happy color vs muted browns. I think if PCGS did anything better in the marketing world it was certainly their choice of brand colors.
Ironically I was talking to the guys at Rarcoa, one of the big wholesalers of commons and gold, and they discount PCGS ($5) simply because the holders tend to chip on the stacking edge. They leave shows with trunks full of common date stuff and I guess NGC slabs hold up to their mass production process of selling coins better. 
 
It is good to hear a lot of this info from collectors that were active during the creation of these beasts. I tend to think there isn’t much of a difference in the real word looking at coins graded by both. Both never get it 100% right and grades for the most part seem consistent. 

Personally I believe that as a class the most important thing humans do is teach the young, and the second most important is research.  
There's little point to research if it isn't then published by some means.  
Almost everything else is just some aspect of feeding ourselves.  

Ok, this just got weird. 

Ahh the old coke vs pepsi debate  never a winner but always a classic debate.   For me it is very simple, marketing pure and simple it's all just marketing.   When PCGS was founded Hall used his contacts with other dealers to develop a network of dealers with high visibility and standing in the coin/show circuit who would "vouch" for and promote the PCGS brand to their customers.   These dealers were fiercely loyal, and most still are, to Hall/PCGS and over time they did an amazing job of "selling" the PCGS brand.
If you think about it PCGS was super strick and tight with grades when the firm started, hence why there have over the years been so many coins upgraded from the old early rattler and OGH holders.   Even today if you can find an old stash of coins held by a collector that bought or submitted coins in those early days a fair number of the coins will upgrade under todays market grading scheme.  Heck many of the rattler and OGH coins that get kicked around the market could upgrade, it is just not profitable to upgrade a common date 1881-S from MS62 to MS63, so those coins are hyped and pushed by dealers and collectors as "PQ" so the premium can be reaped without the cost to upgrade.
While marketing/networking was the big catapult to the PCGS success, they did/do have some aspects that are seen as better than the competition.   Many collectors and dealers have always liked the plastic that PCGS uses, I hear comments like "it is clearer" and "doesn't scratch as easily and NGC" all the time.   While I find these minor things sometimes all anyone needs is a small rationalization to adopt a favorite, even if it is more perception than reality.
Another part of the puzzle is the registry, PCGS has always had an exclusive registry so if you wanted to participate you had to use or cross to PCGS.   Normally I would expect this exclusive nature to hurt a firm, but again the superior marketing and recruiting of high profile collectors, and subsequently the high profile coins, created the demand to "be like the big boys".   And so you have collectors that have no chance of competing with the mega rich collectors on the PCGS registry, yet somehow the little collectors feel like they are part of the club by having a PCGS registry set.
Today some of that old guard is beginning to loss their dominance in the market and as such the disparity in pricing between NGC and PCGS has shrunk in some segments of the market but there is still a wide spread in some.   The one place that NGC has always held a position of dominance is with the world market.
So in summary, yes there is a price disparity in the market between NGC and PCGS graded coins with the nod to PCGS (except for world coins), even when both are CAC approved.   That price spread has been shrinking over the past 5 years (imo) and some coins/series are much closer than before.   I think that as more of the old guard of dealers, and the devotion to PCGS by those dealers and collectors, move out of the market this disparity has an opportunity to reach a more equal level in the future.

...ur #3...totally disagree, i discount the pcgs coins when buying....their grading staff has deteriorated over the years, but as u mention each has their strong areas n their weak areas, there again depends on the experience n accuracy of their graders which is fluid...there also is a variable involved that is often overlooked, the registry sets appeal....one needs to assess the associated quality of the various registries to often determine the allure of certain coins n in whose holders they reside...my buying of coins that r for registry sets is often influenced by who certified the coin, in my opinion, mine alone, the ngc registry far exceeds the pcgs registry...ultimately its the coin that matters not the tpg, but we all have our biases.....