Coin Grading – a Technique you Must Master

Main purpose of this article is to give you an insight on coin grading and guide you further into understanding everything related to this subject.

For Coin collectors, there is always the need to have more coins, to have good coins in the collection. It is always easy to buy new coins for your collection but you need to make sure that the coins you buy are valuable. If you ever need to sell them this will make sure you can do it without many problems. Following the coin grading system is probably the best way to find out the economic value of your coins.

Coin Grading is essentially the process of determining the grade or condition of a coin, the fundamental factor in its value. Coins from diverse countries have different coin grading systems but for the most part they are similar. Although Coin grading has evolved over the years to a system of finer and finer grade distinctions, the coins will be given dissimilar values depending on what the coin dealer or coin collector’s Knowledge of coin grain is like.

It normally takes many years before coin collectors or dealers gain enough experience about coin grading. Because of this coin grading will always be unsure about the value of coins. As of 2006 there are four major grading services:

- PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service)

- NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation

- ANACS

- ICG (Sometimes criticized for its grading of modern coins)

I highly encourage you to look for expert advice before making any significant rare coin purchase.

Although if you want to learn more about the basic of coin grading there are very excellent coin grading books available that deal with the subject. Reading books like that should help you understand the different coin grading systems used in the industry. Using the books as a reference guide you should try to give a coin grading to the coins you have in your collection. This process should help you understand the diverse values that have been given for the coins.

As i wrote earlier, coin grading is uncertain and you will find that no tow coin dealers agree on all of the points. Thus it is good to remember what the various letters and symbols in coin grading mean. For example “Uncirculated coins” will often be given the rating of Mint State. This means this is a very good find for coin dealers and collectors. Even those coins will be categorized from the best to the worst.

Here are a few of the coin grading values:

- (Uncirculated or mint state) the coin grade is near perfect. The range of this grade is MS60 to MS70. MS70 is perfect.

- (Almost Uncirculated) the coin Grade is almost perfect, there is almost no sign of wear and tear

- (Extremely Fine), only a light dusting of wear on the highest points

- (Very Fine) the coin grade shows little wear with the major features of the coin very sharp in detail.

- (Fine) There is a moderate to considerable even wear on the coin.

- (very Good) Well worn, and shows slight detail on the main features of the coin.

- (Good) Very worn features, mostly flat in appearance.

- (About Good) Very heavily worn with lettering, details, and dates worn smooth. The worst possible condition of a coin.

Understanding what these various coin grading values are will help you with your coin collection. Very Soon you will know the various prices that are given to different coins.

I hope the information above was useful.