Ignorant Aussie Has Some Questions About Sheldon Grading System

Bear in mind 2 things

1. For grades above Fine, British grades are 1 - 1.5 full grades higher than American.

2. Some American grading services are widely known to overgrade on non American coins. They have grading American coins down to an art, but not foreign ones.

The system I use

British/ Aus/NZ ----------- USA
Fine ----------Fine 12
good Fine --------VF 20/25
Very Fine --------ChoiceVF 35
good Very Fine --------XF45/48
aEF ---------------AU53
EF -----------------AU55
gEF ----------------MS60
AU -----------------MS61/2
UNC/BU -------------MS63
CHOICE Unc ---------MS65
FDC ----------------MS 67 to 70

Yes,that guide is thereabouts,with USA grading you have to have MS 60+ to get the better Coins.

What has happened is what we call "gradeflation". Just like monetary inflation makes money worth less over time, gradeflation makes the definitions of grades gradually slip downwards. It has happened in every country, but it has happened most severely in America.

Once upon a time, a couple hundred years ago, coins had just four grades: Poor, Fair, Good and Fine. Those words pretty much meant what they mean in everyday speech; a coin in "Good" condition actually was pretty good. As gradeflation set in, they had to add newly defined grades above Fine. Thus, Very Fine and Extremely Fine. As collecting coins straight from the Mint became a possibility, "Uncirculated" was then added as the pinnacle of preservation.

To illustrate how much gradeflation has occurred, grab yourself an old coin collecting guide from the 1960s and look at their section on grading. I guarantee it will be much stricter than anything anyone uses today. As an example, Tom Hanley's and Bill James's excellent book "Collecting Australian Coins", which came out at the height of the collecting craze in the late 1960s (and which was my childhood coin reading material), defines "Uncirculated" as being in absolute flawless, perfect condition and that only about a third of coins in Mint rolls would qualify as Uncirculated. A 21st century collector would be flabbergasted at hearing that a coin that literally was untouched by human hands after leaving the Mint, shouldn't be called Uncirculated. But that was the grading standard back then.

I would, however, disagree with statements made by others above, equating British with Australian and New Zealand standards. British grading is stricter than Australian/NZ grading, with American grading being less strict again. Here's my personal conversion table:

British          Australian/NZ         US/Canada
Unc              Gem Unc               MS67
aUnc             Unc                   MS63
EF               aUnc                  MS61*
gVF              EF                    AU50
VF               gVF                   EF45
gFine            VF                    EF40
Fine             gFine                 VF30
VG               Fine                  VF20

* - I've put MS61 here, as "MS60" doesn't truly align with regular British/Australian coin grading. Gradeflation has turned MS60 into a technical grade, meaning "Uncirculated but ugly" - the coin shows no "wear" or "rub", but is full of bag marks, fingerprints or other detracting features that almost disqualify it from receiving a grade at all. A coin in AU58 will likely look much better, and get a higher price, than a coin in MS60.

I prefer the British grading system.
The descriptors are the most difficult to meet, and therefore are the most trustworthy, if you are doing your own grading.

As a result,
with such a system, you are less likely to over grade your own coins.

It is essential that you learn to grade accurately for yourself, especially where the likely value of a graded coin is low enough to not be be able to justify the grading and return shipping fees.

Thank you all for the interesting and useful information.

Switching the topic slightly, my next question is how can sellers of slabbed coins justify the hefty mark-ups of their products just because it is encased in a fancy piece of plastic?

If a reputable coin guide lists a coin in Gem condition as $50 then surely a slabbed coin graded MS67 is worth $65 at the most(factoring in costs to get it slabbed) not $125 or $150 or whatever price the seller dreams up.

I have decided if a coin is graded MS63 I'm not going to pay more than the market price for that coin in Unc condition, no matter what kind of holder its in. In my opinion, a slabbed coin shouldn't be regarded as some kind of luxury item.

I suspect you're on the right track Steve. I would like to know the ratio of online (coin not physically inspected) sales to physical store and auction sales. Ignoring the fact that there are now counterfeit slabs on the market, with millions of online sales happening globally then people want proof the coin is genuine and of a certain grade. As for price difference, maybe the higher price for slabbed coins is what people are prepared to pay knowing it's genuine. Also, from memory, there is no PCGS outlet in Oz so if referring to the price of slabbed Oz coins then I would be saying $50-75 by the time you factor in freight, grading, and return freight. It does remind me of an ebay seller that had a bulk lot of world coins the sale. Judging by the pics they were all low value junk coins of no more than $1 with most worth a few cents. The seller had in the ad "Maybe great for slabbing".

FWIW I agree 100%,its a high price to pay to have a Coin validated as genuine and as already stated the Grades are still all over the place.

As an aside,back in the 1960's several of the major Sydney Dealers used the Sheldon system,not sure about the rest of Australia,probably because of the large number of Foreign Coins they sold in those days.
One Dealer allowed kids to swap Coins with him,2 for 1,so I was in there every week or so after School.He gave me the nickname 'Basal Boy' because of the low grade Coins I tried to trade,it stuck with School mates and has haunted me ever since and followed me onto the Stamp Message Boards & Forums.Sorry back on topic.