Coin Grading - Overview

Overview

Coin grading has evolved over the years to a system of finer and finer grade distinctions. Originally, there were only two grades, new and used.

This evolved for a time to the letter grading system beginning with the lowest grade – Basal State (also Poor (PO)), then continuing Fair (Fr), About or Almost Good (AG), Good (G), Very Good (VG), Fine (F), Very Fine (VF), Extra Fine (EF or XF), Almost or About Uncirculated (AU), Uncirculated (Unc) and up to Brilliant Uncirculated (BU). Gem Uncirculated was roughly equivalent in usage to BU at that time.

The British grading system is similar, except that 'Good' and 'Very Good' are 'Poor' and 'Fair' respectively. The word 'Good' used to describe a coin under the British grading system is usually an indication that it is at the higher end of its grading classification, e.g. a 'Good Fine' coin will be in a better condition than a coin that is merely 'Fine'.

William H. Sheldon in his book Penny Whimsy is credited with coming up with the Sheldon Scale in the 1950s, a numeric system going from 1-70. It was intended to be a reflection of the relative value of a 1794 Large Cent, which was then worth $1 in Basal State and $70 in Uncirculated MS-70.

This numerical system was used primarily within the community of large copper coin collectors (a very specialized part of numismatics that often has its own ideas about quality and grading compared to the rest of the coin collecting community) until the mid 1980s.

Now it is widely known that the numbers are a scale: 70 being a perfect coin, and 1 appearing as little more than a piece of oxidized, scarred, and bent copper.