New MS Designation

[PandaMan-migration]

I have just finished The Experts Guide to Collecting & Investing in rare coins by Q. David Bowers (Great book by the way) and he came up with a designation of FD which means that "all" the details that are meant to be on a coin are there, i.e., Full Details.

My only problem is that, at least to me, it seems that this is the only designation he wants. There is where we part, I like the idea of having the ones we have now (FT, FBL, FS, et al) along with the FD designation. If a coin doesn't have FullDetails, it gets the FBL (or whatever) designation.

 

Your input?

 

Gary

[physics-fan3.14]

I disagree. I haven't read the book, but some sort of full details description might be a good idea. It sounds alot better than this First Strike nonsense that seems to have taken over. However, I think that it if it were implemented it should replace the FBL, FT, FH, etc., on their respective series. It would just be too many levels to worry about, and I'm not sure that it would be worth it to get a FD when a FBL is offered. Theoretically, a coin with FBL should be a coin with Full Details, although that is not always the case. The other major problem with a FD coin would be defining exactly what was meant. And it would have to be different for every date, to account for minting characteristics.

 

Overall, I think that FD might be a good idea, but it is not really practical.

[PandaMan-migration]

For the most part I can see your point. But I understand that there is a dime (a series I don't collect, so if I am wrong I appologize) that has Full Bands on the torch but is weakly struck on the obverse quite consistantly. Hence it would be allowed an FB designation, yet it would not have all the (Full) details that it should.

Also, since I am a detail man, I would embrace more ways to describe a coin. Within limits of course, a description of "1908 S VDB cent, MS68, RD-BRN, FD w/Weak "D" in initials & micro HL on reverse" HL = HairLine would be overkill.

 

Gary

 

PS: If the dime is offbase, the point is it could go like that.

[coinman1794]

It would be nice to see a designation that indicated that the whole coin was sharply struck. My problem with it, however, deals with the wording, and what it means to the coin. It would be a nightmare to look at a coin and try to determine if it was "fully" struck, because, how do you judge if it is truly "full" or not. Saying "full" indicates a coin with absolutely no loss of detail on any level, whatsoever. But, what if you have a coin that might have a minute, almost undetectable touch of softness on its highest points, because the dies weren't totally filled, but that has full design details? Right now, even an FB dime or an FBL Franklin can have "full" bands or “full” bell lines but not have fully struck bands or fully struck bell lines; these features can be pretty soft and still be considered "full"! So the question is, how do you judge what "full" really is or should be, in the case of a Full Strike designation?

 

I have Bowers book and I'll have to take a look at what he says, but I would suggest changing the idea of "full" strike to something like "sharp" strike. That way a coin with complete design motifs can be recognized as such, but if there is a minute softness, one won't have to split hairs to determine whether or not it really is "full."

[PandaMan-migration]

Everything in this hobby is relative. Even the grading companies and individual graders "work" the wording of a grade. That's why one comapny may call the same coin MS69 while the other says it's MS68, or one (honest) dealer may call a coin PR65 and another (honest) one will say PR66.

The idea is that it gives you a better idea of what you're getting into. Full Details would mean that all the details that were designd into a coin are there, i.e., full head, full bands, etc., and therefore will also help (in my opinion) with pricing. For example, wouldn't you feel more comfortable paying a higher premium for an MS69 with all the details as opposed to one with flat features? I know I wouldn't mind.

[ronday]

Sounds good to me. As a typeset collector it would help alot.