THE EARLY DAYS OF NUMERICAL COIN GRADING

I discovered that we needed more than three levels of Mint State grades, especially since the upper level of "70" was by definition "perfect" and virtually non-existent (nobody foresaw at the time that millions of modern-issue Proof and Uncirculated coins would someday be submitted by telemarketers and insecure collectors). That left me only two Mint State grades to work with, and I could see that we needed more.

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!"

ANACS grading was a smash success, and when the Board of Governors finally noticed that we were using grades not in the book about a year later, I was in a strong enough position to be able to tell John J. Pittman, who screamed at me that we could not use grades that the Board had not authorized, "Well, John, you had better authorize them, because we are using them!"

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/)

For most of numismatic history, the highest possible grade on the familiar 1-to-70 coin grading scale was an ideal to be considered rather than a realistic grade to be attained. It was a number conceived in a period where most collectors were consumed with a desire to collect what we today call "classic coins".

NGC and PCGS, the top grading services, have never given a classic coin a 70 score, although, amazingly, a small number of coins, including a few Saint-Gaudens double eagles and Morgan dollars, have come close, grading Mint State-69.

As minting technology improved, however, "perfect" coins became possible.

PCGS gave its first MS-70 grade in 1988 to a 1987-W Constitution $5 gold commemorative,. It was a turning point for the hobby and marked a the beginning of a grand phase of development for the coin industry. Since that point, the proportion of modern coins earning 70s has increased at a staggering rate.

To read the complete article, see:
A Perfect Score – Coins Graded Mint State-70 (https://coinweek.com/modern-coins/a-perfect-score-coins-graded-mint-state-70/)

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