THE EARLY DAYS OF NUMERICAL COIN GRADING

I decided to add one grade between 60 and 65 and another grade between 65 and 70. For the first one, I chose 63, because I wanted a number that would be closer to 65 than 60, thereby implying a coin that was significantly better than 60 without being good enough for a 65 grade. For the upper number, my choices were 67 or 68, and I chose 67 partly because I thought it had a chance of occasionally being reached (remember, we were not anticipating grading any common modern coins at the time), and partly because 63 and 67 were symmetrical around the highly desired MS-65.

We opened for business on March 1, 1979, using Sheldon’s numbers plus AU-58, which I created for those “un-circulated coins with rub” that I refused to call Mint State, plus MS-63 and MS-67. We also adopted the practice of grading each side separately, so that a Morgan dollar with a few too many bag marks on the cheek but a nice reverse might get an MS-63/65. I guess we were trying to throw a small bone to the people whose coins did not make a full MS-65 by saying “well, half of your coin made it!”

To read the complete article, see:
The Early Days of Numerical Coin Grading (https://coinweek.com/education/coin-grading/the-early-days-of-numerical-coin-grading/)

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