Thank you for this and all the other informative videos you post. This video helped tremendously! I'm currently searching a hoard of 173 lbs. of 1960 to 1999 Lincoln Memorial cents a friend sold to me. They have been stored in an old glass water cooler bottle for the past 20-60 years and are in great condition, like they came out of a time capsule. I'm searching them for errors (I found a 1998 wide AM so far!) and wanted to pull the higher grade cents out while error hunting, but was unsure of what I was looking at or how to separate the uncirculated from the circulated. I was initially tossing the ones that had even the smallest hint of a blemish, fingerprint, scuff, or carbon (sulfur) spot. However, during my search, I also started researching how to grade by reading books forums and blogs, and watching videos (like yours). Many of them said to compare what I was looking at to already graded coins. After comparing hundreds of images from PCGS and Heritage, I'm starting to rethink the condition of the coins I'm tossing into the spend pile. I'm not sure if I'm "micrograding" these coins. The difference for magnification for errors and grading is hard to get used to! On the sites previously mentioned, I was surprised by the MS grades seeing coins with dings and spots like the coins I was putting in the toss pile. I think some of the coins I'm tossing are in better shape than what I see on these sites. After further research I realized that the MS scale is like a mini-scale within the overall 1 to 70 scale. It is not a continuation of the scale after AU58, but a different classification altogether (the three buckets: circulated, about uncirculated, and uncirculated mint state). It's OK for a lower-graded MS coin to have dings and spots, they just can't have wear. It took a while to wrap my head around that there is a distinct separation between an AU coin and an MS coin (two different buckets). That an AU58 coin with slight wear but no dings or spots can look better overall than a MS60 coin which has no circulation wear, but can have dings and spots. The MS60 is at the low end of the group of uncirculated coins. The beginning of a "new classification" of coin. The key difference is the wear in the high points that separates the AU coin from the MS coin. I hope I'm on the right track with this. So, after figuring all of that out, I relooked at the coins I had previously tossed in the spend pile. I'm ignoring the spots and dings and looking only at the wear in the high spots to separate the uncirculated MS coins from the circulated AU coins. Now that I have an idea of what I'm looking for, on closer examination of some coins, I see that on the obverse there can be a faint pink-to-purple discoloration in Lincoln's ear edge, hair, cheek, beard tip, and the edges of his coat. On the reverse, the discoloration is along the bottom step and the two vertical buttresses and tripods flanking the steps, and faintly across the roof line. This discoloration, although very faint, is a sign of wear and automatically makes those coins AU circulated coins, correct? Does discoloration count as wear or does the high spot have to be physically flattened to show wear? I really hate to toss a bunch of MS coins thinking they are AU coins! Thank you for your help!
Nice job! I've personally struggled in the past with distinguishing AU examples versus BU pieces with a weak strike, as is common among many classic issues. The Morgans from 1900-1904 were always the worst ones for me, with so many flat breast feathers and missing hair details resulting from poor striking.
BlueRidge!! Great job! I have been working hard on grading for about 5 or 6 years. I have taken two week long grading courses at the ANA Summer Seminar and that fine AU/BU(MS) line can still be tough! Especially when you throw market grading into the mix where a true AU58 Morgan with great eye appeal is graded by the services at a 62 even 63. As you know, the 58 is 'supposed' to have 'just the slightest rub' and an MS60 graded Morgan looks hideous and has usually been hit by every coin in the bag but it is technically 'UNC'. The instructors at the seminar, PCGS, NGC graders will often give the students a correct answer of AU58 or MS62, either grade working for some coins. I always buy from a dealer at the Long Beach show, he is great! He will sit with me for 30-45 minutes or more showing me his decades long secrets for distinguishing AU from Mint State for whatever series I am interested in, Morgan's, Walkers etc. I am going to contact him and have him bring raw, true technical AU58 sliders, with honestly just 'the slightest rub' to purchase for my grading set. I have read that some of the old timers, like Wayne Miller and John Love could pick out of a group of UNC Morgan's the single coin that was slide just one time across a the velvet of a crap table! I want to be able to do that. Thanks for all your vids, they are great!!
is it possible to determine if it is uncirculated vs very good condition without taking the coin out of the holder it is in? like the paper ones. because I am going to an estate sale, and can't tell for sure by the pictures online. Any tips in determining uncirculated condition or grading in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
I collect high grade Ancient Greek and Roman coins and I am still trying to figure out the difference between circulation wear and surface damage. NGC gives two separate grades, one for each.
This video resolution is only 240P and only a couple years old? Please upload higher-quality videos if you want to do closeups of coins and ask people to take a close look to determine grades.
Dude the only way not to ruin it is to wear gloves when picking it up and looking at it I know some of you are amased by it and won't let anyone touch it
BlueRidgeSilverHound, for all the hours upon hours of education and searching one goes thru to find a coin to sell for any decent price, is it even worth it? are the chances of making money worth the countless hours spend learning and looking for special coins??
Long, long Learning Curve! People make great livings by walking the bourse floor of coin shows picking out under graded, slabbed coins, cracking them out and resubmitting them. One of my grading instructors told me he was going to shows and grabbing two to three coins of a certain type per show. The coins had been designated incorrectly in the slabs as proofs and were actually business strikes, or the other way around. He was cracking them out, sending them in for the correct designation, making $1,500 profit per coin.
Hitting4Contracts.com wow! im very new to all things coins so this is really cool to me. Thank you for the response. For somebody to collect all his coins from everyday life like under sofa, outside, on floor etc. to inspect those coins, is it worth it? what are the chances ill find ANYTHING valuable? seems like i can spend a lot of time searching around but not finding any real valuable coins
Some gigantic score, probably not. But in a little over year back when silver was in the mid $30 range my family moved $106,000 in half dollars, coin roll hunting. We found, in "silver value" at the time over $10,000 worth of silver Walkers, Franklin's, and Kennedy's both 90% and 40%. Take a look at this video about Dave Enders, million dollar coin seller on Ebay. Pretty simple start, he gets to it in the first 60 seconds of the video.
Hitting4Contracts.com my friend, thank you very much for your reply. i really really apreciate it. been trying to get a reply from people for a while now. These replies help a ton
Thank you for this and all the other informative videos you post. This video helped tremendously!
I'm currently searching a hoard of 173 lbs. of 1960 to 1999 Lincoln Memorial cents a friend sold to me. They have been stored in an old glass water cooler bottle for the past 20-60 years and are in great condition, like they came out of a time capsule. I'm searching them for errors (I found a 1998 wide AM so far!) and wanted to pull the higher grade cents out while error hunting, but was unsure of what I was looking at or how to separate the uncirculated from the circulated. I was initially tossing the ones that had even the smallest hint of a blemish, fingerprint, scuff, or carbon (sulfur) spot.
However, during my search, I also started researching how to grade by reading books forums and blogs, and watching videos (like yours). Many of them said to compare what I was looking at to already graded coins. After comparing hundreds of images from PCGS and Heritage, I'm starting to rethink the condition of the coins I'm tossing into the spend pile. I'm not sure if I'm "micrograding" these coins. The difference for magnification for errors and grading is hard to get used to! On the sites previously mentioned, I was surprised by the MS grades seeing coins with dings and spots like the coins I was putting in the toss pile. I think some of the coins I'm tossing are in better shape than what I see on these sites.
After further research I realized that the MS scale is like a mini-scale within the overall 1 to 70 scale. It is not a continuation of the scale after AU58, but a different classification altogether (the three buckets: circulated, about uncirculated, and uncirculated mint state). It's OK for a lower-graded MS coin to have dings and spots, they just can't have wear. It took a while to wrap my head around that there is a distinct separation between an AU coin and an MS coin (two different buckets). That an AU58 coin with slight wear but no dings or spots can look better overall than a MS60 coin which has no circulation wear, but can have dings and spots. The MS60 is at the low end of the group of uncirculated coins. The beginning of a "new classification" of coin. The key difference is the wear in the high points that separates the AU coin from the MS coin. I hope I'm on the right track with this.
So, after figuring all of that out, I relooked at the coins I had previously tossed in the spend pile. I'm ignoring the spots and dings and looking only at the wear in the high spots to separate the uncirculated MS coins from the circulated AU coins. Now that I have an idea of what I'm looking for, on closer examination of some coins, I see that on the obverse there can be a faint pink-to-purple discoloration in Lincoln's ear edge, hair, cheek, beard tip, and the edges of his coat. On the reverse, the discoloration is along the bottom step and the two vertical buttresses and tripods flanking the steps, and faintly across the roof line. This discoloration, although very faint, is a sign of wear and automatically makes those coins AU circulated coins, correct? Does discoloration count as wear or does the high spot have to be physically flattened to show wear?
I really hate to toss a bunch of MS coins thinking they are AU coins!
Thank you for your help!
Nice job! I've personally struggled in the past with distinguishing AU examples versus BU pieces with a weak strike, as is common among many classic issues. The Morgans from 1900-1904 were always the worst ones for me, with so many flat breast feathers and missing hair details resulting from poor striking.
BlueRidge!!
Great job! I have been working hard on grading for about 5 or 6 years. I have taken two week long grading courses at the ANA Summer Seminar and that fine AU/BU(MS) line can still be tough! Especially when you throw market grading into the mix where a true AU58 Morgan with great eye appeal is graded by the services at a 62 even 63. As you know, the 58 is 'supposed' to have 'just the slightest rub' and an MS60 graded Morgan looks hideous and has usually been hit by every coin in the bag but it is technically 'UNC'. The instructors at the seminar, PCGS, NGC graders will often give the students a correct answer of AU58 or MS62, either grade working for some coins.
I always buy from a dealer at the Long Beach show, he is great! He will sit with me for 30-45 minutes or more showing me his decades long secrets for distinguishing AU from Mint State for whatever series I am interested in, Morgan's, Walkers etc. I am going to contact him and have him bring raw, true technical AU58 sliders, with honestly just 'the slightest rub' to purchase for my grading set. I have read that some of the old timers, like Wayne Miller and John Love could pick out of a group of UNC Morgan's the single coin that was slide just one time across a the velvet of a crap table! I want to be able to do that. Thanks for all your vids, they are great!!
thank you!
Great video. But how about for copper coins? Especially the ones that have already turned completely brown.
Need to look at the coin with at least 20x magnifier or microscope to tell. Nice to have a real BU example to compare it with.
i am new so it would be helpful if you could explain how you graded it
is it possible to determine if it is uncirculated vs very good condition without taking the coin out of the holder it is in? like the paper ones. because I am going to an estate sale, and can't tell for sure by the pictures online. Any tips in determining uncirculated condition or grading in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
I collect high grade Ancient Greek and Roman coins and I am still trying to figure out the difference between circulation wear and surface damage. NGC gives two separate grades, one for each.
Are coins considered unCirculated if they came from the bank out of Rolls and are in pristine looking condition?
This video resolution is only 240P and only a couple years old? Please upload higher-quality videos if you want to do closeups of coins and ask people to take a close look to determine grades.
Im the same way
I have one in a case
I have a 2008 uncirculated one but I think someone took it back and it's now mint state
I thought AU stands for "almost uncirculated?"
Tenho uma quanto vale
Yeah a lot of details we can’t see cause the video is in 240p
Dude the only way not to ruin it is to wear gloves when picking it up and looking at it I know some of you are amased by it and won't let anyone touch it
BlueRidgeSilverHound,
for all the hours upon hours of education and searching one goes thru to find a coin to sell for any decent price, is it even worth it? are the chances of making money worth the countless hours spend learning and looking for special coins??
Long, long Learning Curve! People make great livings by walking the bourse floor of coin shows picking out under graded, slabbed coins, cracking them out and resubmitting them. One of my grading instructors told me he was going to shows and grabbing two to three coins of a certain type per show. The coins had been designated incorrectly in the slabs as proofs and were actually business strikes, or the other way around. He was cracking them out, sending them in for the correct designation, making $1,500 profit per coin.
Hitting4Contracts.com wow! im very new to all things coins so this is really cool to me. Thank you for the response. For somebody to collect all his coins from everyday life like under sofa, outside, on floor etc. to inspect those coins, is it worth it? what are the chances ill find ANYTHING valuable? seems like i can spend a lot of time searching around but not finding any real valuable coins
Some gigantic score, probably not. But in a little over year back when silver was in the mid $30 range my family moved $106,000 in half dollars, coin roll hunting. We found, in "silver value" at the time over $10,000 worth of silver Walkers, Franklin's, and Kennedy's both 90% and 40%. Take a look at this video about Dave Enders, million dollar coin seller on Ebay. Pretty simple start, he gets to it in the first 60 seconds of the video.
Hitting4Contracts.com my friend, thank you very much for your reply. i really really apreciate it. been trying to get a reply from people for a while now. These replies help a ton
?
You talk too much for answering a basic question ND wasting too much time getting to the point. Thanks for nothing.