Well known and respected Australian numismatist, Peter Andrews, has a very interesting website we've written about before, The Sandpit. He's just popped up a new article he's entitled To Slab or Not to Slab - Part 1 Grading. In it, Peter has summarised a system proposed in the book called "How to Grade US Coins" by James Halperin. Halperin is an established figure in the US coin market and is still a director of the huge auction house Heritage Auction Galleries.
The system proposes that the grade of an uncirculated (or MS) coin can be determined by 4 factors:
- Surface Preservation
- Strike
- Lustre
- Eye Appeal
It then goes onto suggest that by rating an MS coin on a scale of 1 to 5 for each of these factors and adding the total (with double weight given to surface preservation) that you can use the result to determine the MS grade of a coin.
I haven't read the book Peter used to develop his article, but it certainly makes a lot of sense. It's well worth the read and I'd strongly recommend anyone serious about grading of coins and with an interest in slabbed Aussie coins should head over to his site and take a look.
Posted by mnemtsas at July 9, 2009 7:25 PM
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