One Collectors Thoughts on the Sheldon Scale

[WoodenJefferson]

 

There has been much discussion here lately about the grading aspect of our hobby, the hobby of collecting and examining coins. The object here is get your mindset working on the stair step way of looking at the condition of a coin, whether its fresh from the mint or a 200 year old heirloom. I’m going to use a lot of generalities and loose language, thinking that if it gets to technical or to lengthy, people will loose interest, so on with the show.

 

Mint State (Uncirculated) - Absolutely no trace of wear, none allowed period!

 

Mint state coins vary from MS-60 to MS-70 with the 70 as being perfect. That 70 means there are no blemishes, it has an extraordinary strike, presents it self with great color and an overall true example of the finest specimen to come off the dies. Just about any coin you have that isn't already in a slab or holdered in a government package, probably isn't a MS-70. The average freshly minted coins that you get in change would most likely grade out as MS-63. A really nice coin like a brand new Statehood Quarter with no visible marks, will likely only turn out to be in the MS-65 category. On the high end of the scale even in rolled coins, getting a MS-68 coin out of a roll is like 1 in 100,000! I think some of lottery odds are even better than that.

 

Distinguishing the difference between the levels of uncirculated grades is where most of the subjective emphasis comes into play. Even with years of experience, coin dealers and collectors will disagree about where a particular coin should fall within these established point grades. Even the professional grading services aren't 100% consistent within these grade levels but are correct in assigning the right grade more times than they are wrong. Besides, you are paying (or someone else has) for that professional opinion, why not agree? Remember this, when you do disagree with a grading service, you are disagreeing with the standard and not the scale.

 

Almost Uncirculated (AU) - Small trace of wear visible on the highest points, and I emphasize *small trace* not flat spots.

 

AU coins have slight wear patterns in stages so AU-50, AU-55 and AU-58 have been assigned, with the 58 as the high end, a just barely circulated specimen. As a novice collector these AU grades probably present the most difficulty in mastering. It takes many coins and many years to be able to tell the difference between the AU and low grade uncirculated coins. One of the most important things to remember in grading an AU coin is to know where the high points are located. Knowing this you can now look for the minimal wear areas of any particular coin. This is accomplished by holding your coin at an angle, nearly sideways to a bright light source, so that the light reflects at a low angle off the surface of the coin. Now, look for a difference in how the light reflects from most of the design elements. If there is any trace of wear, the very highest points of the coin will not reflect in the same manner as the rest of the coin. If there is any change of reflection intensity, you most likely have an AU coin. I have found through out the years that a great majority of AU-58 coins look much better in hand than most low grade MS-60 coins. To me, a coin that falls into the high end of AU has some character to it and is very pleasing to the eye.

 

Extremely Fine (XF or EF) - Very light wear on only the highest points of the design elements

 

XF coins have been assigned XF-40 along with XF-45. With an XF coin, you can usually see the wear patterns without a lot of high magnification, but still it’s categorized as the minimum amount of wear. There is often some of the mint luster left on the fields of coin, especially around the protected areas of the design and lettering.. Most of the devices on both sides of the coin are clearly defined. For each type of year and denomination minted, there are many different things to look at to determine if a coin meets this demanding grade. I say demanding grade, because these grades are the best of the best for circulated coinage.

 

Very Fine (VF) - Light to medium wear. All major features must be sharp.

 

VF has been designated VF-20, VF-25, VF-30 and on the high end VF-35. The key word in determining this grade is “major“. The major features that are the deeply struck into the design will still remain, but the minor features such as fine hair detail, feathers, leaves and other light designs will be worn. Silver VF coins that show good honest wear are still very attractive and still have lots of detail left. The mid to high end VF have probably seen a minimum of between 1-3 years of circulated use.

 

Fine (F) - Moderate to heavy even wear. The entire design will be clear and bold.

 

Fine is labeled F-12 and must have a distinct rim, with all legends readable, clear devices that show some detail, but the whole coin is moderately, but evenly worn. In other words, a lot of the details are gone, but you can still see a good deal of the design.

 

Very Good (VG) - Well worn. Design clear, but flat and lacking many details.

 

VG-8 means the entire design is weak, but a few details are visible. Full rims are nearly always a requirement for this grade. A full rim means that you can see a line around the edge of the coin where it was originally raised up. This grade also needs to have clearly discernable devices and features. Most legends are clearly readable, but the whole coin is still significantly worn.

 

 

Good (G) - Heavily worn. Design and legend visible but very faint in spots.

 

Assigned G-4 and G-6 with 6 having just a bit less wear. On some coins, full rims are not required for this grade, but major devices and features are evident as outlines. Although the coin overall is heavily worn, you must be able to read the date and mint mark.

 

Almost Good (AG) - Outlined design. Parts of date and legend worn smooth.

 

AG or About Good has been assigned the number 3. We are getting pretty low on the Sheldon Scale now, and this is what I call a used up coin. You should be able to make out a date, possibly with a good light source and magnification. Often, only parts of the last two digits can be identified, making the preceding century obvious.

 

Fair (Fair) - You can identify the coin as to its type.

 

2 brings us down even further on the scale. There could be holes, it might be a little bent, (remember, old large cents were produced out of raw, very soft copper) or the coin in question might have had a lot of extreme, but honest wear. You may or may not be able to ascertain the date depending on the type and the nature of the wear. Due to the condition of these coins, they are sometimes referred to as "filler" coins. Filler coins can be used in collections to fill the voids of moderate to rare coins until a better example comes along or when one is found within your budget.

 

Poor-1 or P-1 (Poor) - The lowest of the low Basal State is barely discernable as a coin, but is still a coin! Little else can be seen or identified due to the coin being either badly damaged or worn completely smooth. (often times, these are referred to as “smoothies”)

 

 

There you have it, but remember, this is just one persons perspective about the Sheldon Scale and its use, conjecture and rebuttal is to be expected. Coming from the old school train of thought, it was not hard for me to adapt to this scale as a means of separating minted coins into discernable categories.

 

Thanks for your time & patience.

 

~Woody~

[ant]

very good info! thank you for posting

[jesbroken]

Good post, Woody. Thank you for your time. I respect your opinions and only wish the top TPG's would be more informative in their grading reasoning. It would be a great benefit.

[Keleum]

I have a follow-up question to this. How technical is the grading that distinguishes a MS65 from a MS67, from a MS69. Is it just the number/depth of bag marks/dings or nicks on the coin. Is it more of a subjective thing, that distinguishes a 65 from a 67?

[WoodenJefferson]

I have a follow-up question to this. How technical is the grading that distinguishes a MS65 from a MS67, from a MS69. Is it just the number/depth of bag marks/dings or nicks on the coin. Is it more of a subjective thing, that distinguishes a 65 from a 67?

 

 

Since many of my coins/experience do not fall into this category, I would love to have Mark Feld address this question, a professional opinion inserted (here) would be of a great service to this forum.

 

Anyone else care to take a shot at Keleum's proposed question? By all means, shoot!

 

I shall PM him to see if he will respond or if you read this Mark, please comment.

[physics-fan3.14]

Keleum, other important factors are Strike, Luster, and Eye Appeal. Bag marks and nicks are one part, and some would argue one of the most important. It seems like popular grading has put these other factors to the side and emphasized the number of marks as the criteria for grading. I believe this is one reason that people try to upgrade coins, and are baffled when they receive the same grade over and over again. You could have the cleanest coin in the world markwise, but if the strike, luster, and eye appeal just aren't there, it should never grade above MS-62 or 63.

[Bruceswar]

For many series going from MS66 to MS67 is a real task. One of the biggest factors is the luster. That is always the killer. Luster, Hits, Strike in that order. That is what I think. MS 67 should be "dripping" with luster.

[MarkFeld]

I have a follow-up question to this. How technical is the grading that distinguishes a MS65 from a MS67, from a MS69. Is it just the number/depth of bag marks/dings or nicks on the coin. Is it more of a subjective thing, that distinguishes a 65 from a 67?

Unfortunately, there is no easy, correct or consistent answer to those questions As has been mentioned, the technical grade of a coin is only one aspect to grading. Sadly, in my opinion, not enough emphasis is placed on the technical quality of many coins these days.

 

Other factors which can affect differences in the grade of a "mint state" coin are strike, luster, color/toning and eye-appeal. Personally, I believe that eye-appeal has become THE most important of the above considerations. I say that because, as on a practical basis, it could be argued that a coin's eye-appeal is actually determined by a combination of those other attributes, anyway. Please think about that for a moment.

 

Despite what some collectors and dealers say, there is no one factor that consistently determines one grade from another for a particular coin type. For example, I have seen rather dull/lackluster MS67 type coins. I have also seen unattractive ones. Ditto for pieces that displayed striking weakness in some areas. One coin might get a bump in grade due to attractive color, while a different one might be rewarded for exceptional luster or strike. If you focus too much on one factor due to your own biases you are almost certain to miss out on the big picture.

 

While there are some general considerations involved in determining one grade from another, the bottom line is that that much of grading is subjective and that one grader's likes or dislikes about a coin might differ from those of another grader. Graders are (merely) human, imperfect, biased and not nearly as consistent as we want them to be. That is not a criticism, but merely an observation and a dose of truth. Can we all handle the truth?

[michael]

While there are some general considerations involved in determining one grade from another, the bottom line is that that much of grading is subjective and that one grader's likes or dislikes about a coin might differ from those of another grader. Graders are (merely) human, imperfect, biased and not nearly as consistent as we want them to be. That is not a criticism, but merely an observation and a dose of truth. Can we all handle the truth?

 

 

[WoodenJefferson]

I wanted to stop by and thank Mr. Mark Feld for taking the time, he's at the Long Beach Show and responded from his motel room last night, by significantly adding to this thread. His contribution in this arena of grade perspective is invaluable.

 

I also want to thank the others who took the time to respond to the thread and to the question at hand.

 

Good Luck at the show Mark

 

Thanks

[rbrown4]

This entire post from the beginning is great and very insightful. The Sheldon Scale which Woody summarized so nicely is a necessity that I refer to day after day, over and over. As others have noted above, grading is a complicated and yet subjective exercise, but it is threads such as this that help me, and hopefully others to better understand the entire process.

 

Thanks Woody and all that have contributed.

 

Great, Great Post

 

Rey

[dooly]

Five Star post *****

 

it has made me wonder if the UK grading company's 1-100 grading scale is the way forward or it would just make the grading in to a farce !!!

 

also my understanding of "how they are graded" is where the "hits" are in refrence to the Focal areas of the coins ie. Primary & secondary and i found the case studys in Charles D. Daughtrey Looking through Lincoln cents Chronology of a Series. very informative.. What did you all think of the information suplyed in this book ?

 

[WoodenJefferson]

Thank you for the kind comment Rey...you know, I got to thinking and there are many of us who do this for the "Love of the Hobby" a passion that drives one to excel and to share information and experiences. When I was growing up in the 50's & 60's, baseball was the same way...It came to be know as "For the Love of the Game" a HBO Series. There were no high salaries then, as a matter of fact, it took until1979 when Nolan Ryan signed for the Houston Astros. He was the first baseball player to break the "Million Dollar" per year salary cap...now days, that's just chump change for most players as a signing bonus. For many of us who do not depend on coins in order to make a living, future money making schemes or deals is not a high priority on our living list.

 

Those that do rely on current market conditions of Numismatics are the ones that are required to know everything they can about the commodity in which they deal in and for those to share their knowledge and experiences with us, is in fact our bonus.

 

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Dooly, I know nothing oabout the UK's 100 point grading standards, perhaps you can enlighten us as to how this one works. I have never read the book written by Charles D. Daughtrey, I'm sure there are those who have, so maybe we can get some comments.

 

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Note: On May 1, 1991 Nolan Ryan, at age 44, pitching for the Texas Rangers, set a record this night by throwing the seventh no-hitter of his career, striking out Roberto Alomar of the Toronto Blue Jays for the final out. I was trying to remember what I accomplished at the age of 44...I'm pretty sure it wasn't pitching a no hitter in the major leagues.

[rrantique]

As always a Great Post Woody. Thanks for this "Home Run".