Thursday, April 23, 2009

How Coin Grading Services Determine the Value of Their Coins


Coin Grading Services are available online and off. The grading of coins or coin grading is a very important practice, In coin collection.

Grading of coins began in early 19th century, then grading was done with the help of letter grading system ,in this system alphabets were used for grading for example PO was used for Poor ,Fr was used for Fair G was used for Good VG was used for Very Good F for Fine VF for Very Fine XF/EF for Extra fine.

In 1950 an American Doctor and a well known coin collectors evolved a Sheldon scale in his book called Penny Whimsy a numeric grading system which would scale coins on numeric grades of 1-70.

This numeric Sheldon scale was particularly useful for grading of copper coins ,and was a well known practice with copper coin collectors.

In 1986 a professional service of grading was launched in Newport Beach California ,this grading system was a combination of 2 older grading systems ,the combination of numbers and alphabets.

This form of third party assessment service of grading coins came to be known as PCGS, Professional Coin Grading Service.PCGS used the following grades for coins- PO-1, FR-2, AG-3, G-4, G-6, VG-8, VG-10, F-12, F-15, VF-20, VF-25, VF-30, VF-35, XF-40, XF-45, AU-50, AU-53, AU-55, AU-58, MS-60, MS-61, MS-62, MS-63, MS-64, MS-65, MS-66, MS-67, MS-68, MS-69 and MS-70.

The whole idea behind grading was to make the dealing of coins easier in the open market .Around 2006 finer means of coin grading became assessable like NGC -Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, ANACS and ICG.

Though there are some limitations as these services technically grade coins where as the market value of these coins can many a times differ.

Recently computers were too being used for grading ,this practice was known as Compugrade this system soon lost its flavor as computer grading could not replace human grading.
Coin grading services have been very useful in getting rid of fake counterfeit coins.
Coin grading services are to determine genuinely the condition and the authenticity of a coin and grade it to provide coin collectors or buyers with a grade on which they can rate the value of the coin.

Coins are graded keeping in mind various aspects of its design its country of origin its uniqueness the date printed as well as the mint mark on it.

Coin grading can also be performed by individuals who have the knowledge and the skills of identifying a true coin and a fake coin.

Nowadays the quality of counterfeit coins has gone up increasingly it has become nearly impossible to distinguish between the original and the fake coin with a naked eye ,here is when it is highly recommended to sought help from professional coin grading services .

Coin Grading services are authorized companies who not only grade coins but also give limited value guarantee to the coins graded by them.

Coin grading services are known to grade the coins with authorized certificates ,which provides further assurance to a buyer for investment.
Coin colleting is an expensive hobby ,if one is not well experienced it is better to use the advice and service of Coin grading services to avoid any misfortune in future.
Source: articlesbase.com