Rate my quarter

[longnine009]

It's not too  pretty but it only cost me 25c. I got in a change machine at the laundry last month. Using the original edition Photo Grade, I would call it a  Good/Good. Do you think I can get it to upgrade to a Very Good/Very Good? 

http://www.knightsofthecointable.com/kotctgallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2450&g2_navId=xf3daa958

http://www.knightsofthecointable.com/kotctgallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2452&g2_navId=xf3daa958

[KurtS]

This one is interesting, because the rims and detail on the obverse look F12 to me, but the rims look flatter on the reverse, but there are still F12 details, comparing to the ANA and Photograde guides. 

[AdamL]

I think it could possibly go VG.

[Triggersmob]

I'm certainly no expert at grading, but I was thinking F12 too.

[S.George]

 

Hi: 009:

Very Good = Wings tip outlined.  Rims are fine and even.    Tops of letters at rim are flattened.

Fine= Hairlines about ear are visible.   Tiny feathers on eagle's breat are faintly visible.

George

[longnine009]

Thanks for the replies. The Photograde I'm using is the 1970 edition. I suppose by that guidebook it's really somewhere in between Good and Very Good as the distinctions are rims worn into the date and letters or rims worn to the tips of the rims and letters. By my eye the coin has both--the rim worn into some digits and letters and some worn only to the tips.

Even with the very simple distinctions as this it still gets  subjective. 

[KurtS]

Agreed--grading is subjective, and I have a lot to learn on many US series. I can nail IHC grading, but that's about it. 

That said, I've found my ANACS and Photograde insufficient in rendering the subtle details between grades, albeit their descriptions.
Since the major TPGs have basically established grading these days, I find the books less authoritative in favor of their grading. 
Therefore, I tend to go by coins I've had graded--or use Heritage's auction photos for reference.

As reference on how NGC grades, here's a coin they graded as F12 for comparison. Despite that weak reverse rim, this is why I suspect the 1952 could be F12+.

[longnine009]

Photograde is an amazing book. It's been in print since 1970 and I believe has sold over 18 million copies. And yet I would call it, for the most part *very simple* technical grading.

You may laugh, but someday technical grading (as simple as Photograde) will be the only grading. Market factors, and subtle details will be worked out by bidders using better and better imaging, coin photography, and auctions.  They already do this today, discounting or paying a premium on existing "market graded" slabs.

The whole Catch-22 with market factors has always been that they are real but they are real at the individual level. One collector may adore split tails on buffalo nickels and be willing to pay more, sometimes a lot more,  another may like them too but not so much  as much as the first collector, another collector,  might like them too as long as everyone else does, while yet another may just shrug at split tails. 

And  then we all wonder why no one can agree on a grade? Because everyone has different individual tastes is the reason. Market grading is not, never has been, and never will be feasible.

And yet market factors are very real, that's the whole Catch-22 in it all. Somewhere in all that there is a final  *market aggregate* price.  But that price cannot be decided before hand with a grade=price quantified number or perhaps worse, a string of use less adjectives.