As someone who has had a number of hobbies, including coins, I have never liked or agreed with the concept of a TPG service “rejecting” rare coins from the hobby due to damage, graffiti, or cleaning - versus “accepting” coins for grading. Many special and rare pieces are essentially branded as rejects. I believe this does a disservice to the hobby and to young collectors that may be proud to purchase a less expensive rarity despite a particular flaw. Being more accepting may even lead to less coin doctoring. My feeling is that all rare coins should be graded on a numerical scale no matter what their condition / damage/ cleaning state may be. Perhaps a point system could assign a value based on several aspects such as a wear value / original surface value / damage value and a total weighted score. An example is a rarity where perhaps 30 coins in all grades survive. It is silly to reject a lightly cleaned example of such a rarity as a real collectible and it always seemed to be a somewhat pompous approach to me. Another example is an otherwise original and nice rare uncleaned early American gold piece with a tiny “x” carved long ago by someone to see if it is real. The severity of graffiti can vary greatly. Or the fact that gold is softer than other metals and more prone to nicks. The coins can still be point-graded lower, but at least it would create opportunities to give these coins some credit for their positive features. Thoughts from others? Maybe someday a new grading service could blaze a trail and improve the hobby.
Comments
I much prefer the current labeling of problem coins, to what you propose. And in fact, I wish that the grading companies were more stringent, not more forgiving in that regard.
I've been through the raw, ANACS authentic, rattler, OGH, NGC bias, and now the CACG entry into the fray.
While I absolutely value authenticity and damage identification, the possiblities are endless and could be far too complex to be practical.
I have to rate MY coins on "entertainment" value. Whether or not I keep returning for a new "hit" on viewing.
I can't find the post/s where the grades may be increased or decreased by minimal amounts, but I sure think it would be tough to try to find people who could ...consistently.... apply UNIFORM transferences.
I also can't know at THIS time how it will affect the coin hobby.
Waiter/seer here, boss.
At least there was success in convincing the grading gods to dispense with the little flimsy body bag and start recognizing the genuine aspect of the coin, by placing it in a worthy slab (which was paid for when submitted but not delivered), and listening to those that insisted doing so would create a worthwhile market and attract new collectors/hobbyists.
BTW, YW
Doug
Obviously (or not?) if the detail issue is so bad that they can't give an honest numerical grade, there would have to be a stipulation for that situation.
Unc covers a heck of a lot - as does au. Is it Unc 63 details, or 68 details? If it's a minor details issue there can be a huge value gap between detailed 63 and 68. They basically leave it up to the seller and buyer to guess the grade even after they paid for a grade. To whit, on the positive side I guess at least you can say it's confirmed Unc VS au VS xf etc. Still feels like not getting what was paid for though.
It would then be up to the buyer how much the detail hurts the value.
Details grades are used precisely in instances in which a meaningful “honest numerical grade” can’t be applied. As an example, if an uncirculated coin has graffiti, it doesn’t really matter if it would be a 60, 63, 65, 67 or any other number, without the graffiti. Because the graffiti largely nullifies the coin’s (graffiti-free) condition and there’s not a precise numerical grade that would make sense.
Are you saying that they only give details grades for major issues? Because that isn't the impression I get. It seems that they give out details monikers for almost everything (not saying they do, just that it seems that way).
Are you saying that they only give details grades for major issues? Because that isn't the impression I get. It seems that they give out details monikers for almost everything (not saying they do, just that it seems that way).
Coins that have scratches deemed to be acceptable by the grading companies, receive straight grades, rather than details grades. Ditto for coins with light cleaning. It’s when the scratch, cleaning or other problem is too severe to assign a meaningful straight grade, that the grading companies assign details grades.
Graffiti, which is considered intentional damage, is generally thought to be more of an issue than random marks/scratches from circulation. And no, the grading companies don’t typically give details grades for just minor scratches or cleaning. In fact, there are many holdered straight grade coins that collectors and dealers feel should have received details grades, instead.
As is the case now, different buyers and sellers will still have very different opinions regarding the value of the coin. A specific grade, accompanied by “Graffiti” won’t eliminate or even significantly reduce the difficulty in valuing the coin. For that matter. buyers and sellers often have difficulty valuing straight grade coins, as well.