PCGS - Grading coins is every bit as much a science as an art here at PCGS, and that's certainly the case when it comes to grading heavily worn coins. Some might think that coins grading below Good-4 are essentially uncollectible, but that's simply not true. Many early U.S. coins are highly sought after in the lowest grades and, sometimes, are only readily available, let alone affordable, to some collectors at that level. In more recent years, the genre of low-ball collecting — building sets of coins in the lowest grade possible — has also heightened the marketplace significance of low-grade coins under Good-4 and especially About Good-3.
There are a few key differences between a Poor-1 and Fair-2 coin. Click images to enlarge. What exactly are Poor-1 (or PO01) and Fair-2 (FR02), anyway? Here are the official PCGS Grading Standards for these two wear-based grades, as published in PCGS Rare Coin Market Report:
Poor-1 / PO01 — Barely identifiable as to date and type.
Poor-2 / FR02 — Mostly worn, but some design details are visible.
What divides a Poor-1 coin from one that is little more than a smooth, slick metal disk? Not much, beyond the presence of a basic design element or planchet related diagnostic that tell us what series it belongs to and what date it was made; the mint mark must also be identifiable, unless the issue was struck only at Philadelphia — in which case the mint mark location may be worn smooth. In some cases, the design or date may be partly visible on a Poor-1 specimen, and in other cases all we may have to go by is literally a virtually flat round of metal that may appear, to the naked eye, to be unidentifiable at first glance but offers key evidence as to the type and date it belongs to.
With a Fair-2 specimen, the collector begins seeing familiar elements of the coin that would visibly clue them in as to the date and series. While the Poor-1 may yield few outward clues about the coin itself, the Fair-2 specimen begins resembling a struck coin, even if very little in the way of detail — perhaps a faint outline of the basic design — is present on the coin. Both Poor-1 and Fair-2 coins have their place in coin collecting and can make terrific additions in a variety of coin sets, not to mention the many Low Ball set categories up for grabs in the PCGS Set Registry.
Read More: Learn Grading Series 
Posted 05/03/2022 12:59 am
