KoRnholio Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 First off, I really love this book. The photographs are great and it will be a terrific reference for me for years to come. But how can I translate the trend prices/grades into real world recommendations for coins? Specifically, for coins graded by NGC and PCGS. Would "EF" be approximate to AU (as graded by NGC/PCGS)? And what does "unc" in the book generally mean? MS60+? Choice Unc (MS63+)? Gem Unc (MS65)? To be more specific, I am inquiring mostly about 19th century milled coins. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordie582 Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Sorry! can't help. I've never understood the American system!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banivechi Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 But how can I translate the trend prices/grades into real world recommendations for coins? Specifically, for coins graded by NGC and PCGS. Would "EF" be approximate to AU (as graded by NGC/PCGS)? And what does "unc" in the book generally mean? MS60+? Choice Unc (MS63+)? Gem Unc (MS65)? In the real world nobody knows the differences between MS63+ and MS65. Artificial grading American system... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 If I were you I would try and grade your British coins with British grades as it will help you out when coming to value them. Although it might be hard to grade them if they are in plastic coffins. Sorry, but you can probably tell I have a disliking for encapsulation grading.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoRnholio Posted March 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 If I were you I would try and grade your British coins with British grades as it will help you out when coming to value them. Although it might be hard to grade them if they are in plastic coffins. Sorry, but you can probably tell I have a disliking for encapsulation grading.. Right now my only real sources of decent UK coins are Ebay. So while I am working on my UK coin grading eye, my only real choice when buying higher grade coins is to have them come in plastic coffins. On the Spink website I found a page that makes it seem like "unc" in their book is a lower end uncirculated grade (ie, not necessarily full lustre/great strike). I saw this coin on Ebay the other day (ended last night) and almost fell in love with it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=230327328890 I was trying to find out what a decent price to pay would be given that it lists in Spink at 450 GBP in "unc". I only found a few similar ones on Heritage. One was an NGC MS63, (not quite as nice as this one) that sold for $600 a few years ago. So really, my motive was to find out where an "NGC MS 63" would fit in the trends book/on the "unc" scale of UK grading. After all my research I decided I'd bid a max of $750, but that amount was surpassed by a large margin. Probably for the better as I would have had to sell many coins to help pay for that, as that is a good 2 months rent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 In Britain there is aUnc (Almost Uncirculated), BUnc (Brilliant Uncirculated) and then FDC which I'm sure you know. Please do not hesitate to contact me at Clive@HistoricCoinage.com if you feel I could be of any assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottO Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 EF is limited wear so the design should have very little or no wear and scratches to show circulation (not many though), not always full lustre though so it depends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan & Suze Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Perhaps think in these terms: a coin that has circulated for 12 months is very unlikely to be as good as EF a coin that has circulated for 5 years is very unlikely to be as good as VF an Uncirculated coin means just that - never circulated at all. Not a bit circulated, not slightly circulated, but UNcirculated. cheers Declan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Perhaps think in these terms: a coin that has circulated for 12 months is very unlikely to be as good as EF a coin that has circulated for 5 years is very unlikely to be as good as VF an Uncirculated coin means just that - never circulated at all. Not a bit circulated, not slightly circulated, but UNcirculated. cheers Declan It does depend on the coin, I assume you are talking in terms of the late milled series, i.e. post 1800. This would not necessarily apply to coins of the 18/17/16th centuries and certainly not hammered coinage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ætheling Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 In the UK Unc is a pretty wide spectrum (at least to Americans). Whilst this might seem to be a disadvantage it can be pretty useful because you can often find two totally different Unc coins (one MS60 and one MS63) sat side by side going for the exact same price. A lot of US grading (in my opinion) especially in the MS64+ grades is simply down to eye appeal more than anything. The Spinks book probably lists coins under Fair, F, VF, EF, Unc (unless the system has changed in the last few years). What you're unlikely to see is all the moderating language eg. F, F+, GF-, GF, GF+, AVF-/NVF-, AVF, AVF+, VF-, VF, VF+, GVF-, GVF, GVF+ etc. All of which you can encounter in coin lists and on online sales lists. To be honest the best rule i've often found is don't buy the grade but buy what you like, buy on eye appeal. In the UK it can sometimes happens (unusual to be sure) that lower grade coins with better tone/eye appeal can be sold for more than a higher grade coin with an unattractive tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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