[ Grading BU vs. AU ] [ Grading Luster ] [ Contact Marks ] [ Strike ] [ Numerical Grading ]
Up to this point our emphasis has been on Technical grading of coins. Technical grading can be described as grading a coin based on the original condition at the time it was struck. Its grade will be lowered by handling and events that occurs after the coin has been struck. There are other factors that can occur during striking that can affect the grading of the coin, such as worn dies, a defective planchet or weak strike.
Our intent has been to help determine the difference between a coin graded Fine and a coin graded Extra Fine. These differences are pretty clear-cut for many coins and we hope you’ve found the information helpful.
There are four considerations that should be given to a coin when grading. The first is Luster and is the primary consideration in determining a mint state coin from a circulated coin. The surface condition is also a consideration. The number of surface abrasions and placement will affect a coins grade. Eye appeal is subjective but also important. The last is strike, which is also subjective and involves much knowledge of the coin i.e. Morgan dollars from the New Orleans mint often have a weak strike.
Let’s now take a look at some of the gray areas. Lets look at the difference between a mint state coin, that is coins graded MS60 and higher and a high-grade AU (about Uncirculated) coin. One topic that has been raised by a fellow collector has to do with just that. His observation is that a high-grade AU (about Uncirculated) coin may look better then some mint state coins.
You may recall that an AU coin shows only a trace of wear on the highest points and will retain ¾ of the mint luster. A BU coin may have blemishes or bag marks and lack full mint luster.
Consider an AU-58 graded coin. It is felt that these coins might be the quality of an MS63 with “rub”, that is a coin with minimum bag marks that has slight wear on the high points. It was also felt that this particular grade could provide a coin that has better eye appeal then an MS60 due to the lack of bag marks. In many cases the slight rub can be hard to detect so these coins can prove to be a good value to the collector. It would also be priced lower then an uncirculated coin.
Lately, I have seen many coins offered as MS64 that turned out to be high-grade AU coins. The differences are very subtle and you might be surprised at how difficult it can be to spot them. I’ll place the samples in the “Grading” page so we can observe both the obverse and reverse of the two coins.
