The ability to grade is based on how many coins you have viewed as a hobbyist and how many numismatic books you have read and educational websites you have visited. In other words, it takes time and experience as well as equipment and resources. No single article, including this one, can train you to master the basics below.
But this article will get you started with the basics.
Learn the Sheldon 1-70 scale on which coins are graded, establishing value. Here are designations: Poor (Po 1), Fair (Fr 2), About Good (AG 3), Good (G 4), Very Good (VG 8-10), Fine (F 12, Very Fine (VF 20-35), Extra/Extremely Fine (EF or XF 40-45), Almost Uncirculated (AU 50-58), Uncirculated/Brilliant Uncirculated (UNC 60-70).
Know numismatic terms (see this glossary) so that you can identify flaws, cleaning, condition rarities, varieties, errors and more. If a coin is dipped, for instance, or has machine doubling, it is not worth grading with a reputable holdering company (more on that later).
Know the various coin designations (see this post) so that you can identify full steps in nickels, full bands in dimes, full head in standing quarters, full bell lines in Franklin halves, and so on. Otherwise you will err when it comes to strike and value.
Start by grading a large coin with generous fields and well-defined devices, such as the Morgan dollar. This is the best beginner grader coin because of the prominent cheek of Lady Liberty on the obverse and eagle breast feathers on the reverse.
Purchase a coin scale and a loupe to detect counterfeits, polish lines, hairlines, bag marks and other conditions and defects. Coin microscopes are not very useful. You have to train your eyes, not compensate for them. After you have achieved some expertise in the hobby, consider a microscope for some varieties and errors.
Compare your coin with the various grades for each denomination as found on the PCGS Photograde website. The process of comparison sharpens your eye and deepens your knowledge.
Invest in a coin grading library, purchasing best-selling books like Official ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins Hardcover by Kenneth Bressett, The Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection by John Dannreuther and Scott A. Travers, and Photograde: Official Photographic Grading Guide for United States Coins by James F. Ruddy.
Set up your own coin grading room where you can work undisturbed by humans, phones, pets and other distractions.
Invest in lighting. Fluorescent lights are useful if you are inspecting luster and high points of coins. This type of lighting is soft, but works well if you’re using a loupe. In general, many numismatists use a 100W bulb for uncirculated and circulated business strike coins and a 75W bulb for prooflike and proof coins. You can also purchase a LED desk with dimming and brightening levels. Some have USB charging ports and touch control features.
Wear gloves when you handle coins. If you don’t have any handy, grasp coins by the edges so that the oils of your fingers do not taint the fields and devices.
Grade from edges inward. Start the grading process by looking at the edges and rims to make sure there are no dents, bumps or defects. Then in a clockwise motion begin your inspection on the outer fields and gradually go inward toward the center of your coin. Do the same on both sides noting wear, hairlines, bag marks, cleaning, defects and other conditions that affect the value of a coin.
Learn what makes coins valuable (see this article). Join a local or online coin club. Visit Facebook coin groups where experts share their numismatic knowledge.
Choose a reputable holdering company, such as PCGS, NGC, CAC, ANACS and send a submission, realizing that you’re likely paying $40 or more for each coin, after fees, mailing and membership dues. Consult auction values (not retail ones) on PCGS CoinFacts and decide whether the cost is reasonable.
Do not buy AI-powered coin grading apps like CoinSnap. These are unreliable and often inflate prices for face value coins.
Anticipate grading miscalculations. This skill takes time. We all believe our coins are better than they actually are. That’s why third-party grading is important.
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Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.
You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.
Scammers have counterfeited coins since ancient times using base metals, diluting precious metal content, reducing weight and diameter, altering dates, adding or deleting mintmarks and making cast copies of struck coins.
This article documents factors that continue to undermine numismatics, discussing top counterfeit coins and how to detect them.
Why is this so important? China exports 100,000 counterfeit coins per month with the capacity now of producing millions more per year, typically sold via Temu and Etsy whose buyers then try to sell them on social media or online auctions.
Before we share details on detecting counterfeits, here’s a history lesson so that you know the current state of the compromised market.
Gold to Goldfish
Before internet, distributing counterfeits took time and effort with many showing up in pawn shops, flea markets, garage sales and estate auctions. Some scammers tried without much luck to sell to coin shops. On occasion, they partnered with unscrupulous coin companies to distribute their fake products.
But there were problems.
In the 1980s and 90s, tens of thousands of hobbyists often read numismatic books and magazines, belonged to coin clubs and attended seminars at coin shows. They were informed. Internet was supposed to educate hobbyists worldwide. Instead, it undercut and then put out of business hundreds of brick-and-mortar shops, eliminating local experts.
As experienced numismatists know, the key to coin collecting is the ability focus to examine condition, flaws and errors. Many lack those skills now.
In the 1970s, attention spans averaged 30 seconds. It the 1990s, it dropped to 15 seconds, falling again in 2000 to 12 seconds. By 2015, it dropped to 8 seconds, below that of your average gold fish, according to Time magazine.
Counterfeiters took advantage of plummeting literacy rates and attention spans. They could easily scam new collectors who lacked numismatic knowledge and just wanted to score an expensive coin at bargain prices. That’s the ruse of internet.
Counterfeiters are improving their craft now with die struck fakes that have authentic die markers. Even experienced hobbyists are scammed by purchasing them. As such, newer collectors should follow these general guidelines:
If you are ready to bid hundreds of dollars on a coin, resist buying a raw one and shop for one holdered by PCGS, NGC, ANACS and CAC.
Be especially careful when purchasing raw coins from eBay and other online venues. TAI bots cannot detect counterfeits, so you are on your own.
Make sure the seller takes returns and has good reviews. Also, the number of positive reviews is a good indicator. If someone has 0 sales or even fewer than 100, do not take a chance.
Weigh the coin and go to PCGS CoinFacts for the date and mintmark, checking your coin against weights and dimensions.
Read this article about detecting counterfeits.
Difficult Counterfeit Detection
China has become so skilled at counterfeits that they have inserted fakes into their own PCGS holders. Here’s a recent one detected by counterfeit expert Jack D. Young:
The trained eye knows these are not the same coin. So it isn’t safe anymore to buy coins because they are in PCGS holders when Chinese PCGS holders look authentic (except for the fonts; and that’s an entirely different topic; see below).
Jack tried unsuccessfully to get eBay to take down the coin; but it sold:
The buyer thought he was getting a steal as the retail price for this coin is $6250–a profit of $2250. Coin collecting is a hazardous business if you do not know how to grade. But in this case, the key is this seller only had one sale, after which he opens another eBay account and does the same thing to another unschooled buyer.
Again, only buy from sellers who have good reviews and accept returns.
Easy Counterfeit Detection
One of the telltale signs of a Chinese fake is their difficulty in using the correct font when placing their counterfeits in PCGS or NGC holders. They also name the series. The only time grading companies do that is when two coins from different series were minted in the same year, as the 1921 Morgan and 1921 Peace dollar.
Here is an example:
Here is another roadmap to Chinese counterfeits without even examining the coin.
Another issue with Chinese fakes concerns whether they use the correct reverse. For instance, this coin purports to be an 1878-CC Morgan, a valuable coin. But it should have a rounded breast on the eagle and slanted top feather.
Popular Counterfeits
The most difficult fakes to detect are struck coins, using faux dies and alloyed or base metal planchets. The striking mimics the process used by the U.S. Mint, usually resulting in smooth or blurred devices because their machinery is inferior. Edges are particularly difficult to mimic, especially if they are reeded.
Here is an example of a base metal Morgan dollar that weighs 23.3 grams rather than 26.73 grams, according to its owner.
It’s easier to make cast copies, pouring molten metal into a mold made from a real coin. Again, details and devices are imprecise and blurry, often with casting bubbles and uneven thickness.
Coins most apt to be bogus are key dates that spike in value and are relatively easy to fake, adding or deleting a mintmark or designer initials, or altering a date.
Authentic ones from PCGS are displayed below.
The 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent is among the most frequently faked coins. You can take an inexpensive 1909 cent and add an “S” and “V.D.B” initials.
The 1916-D Mercury is an ultra-rarity with only 264,000 minted. All the counterfeiter had to do is acquire an inexpensive 1916 dime and add a mintmark.
The 1914-D cent is simple to fake by adding a mintmark to the 1914 cent or altering the first 4 of a 1944-D cent.
Then there is the key date 1922 no mint mark cent. These were actually struck in Denver. A Mint employee there over polished the dies, resulting in a weak “D” and then missing the “D.” All you need do is smooth by various means a better struck 1922-D, removing the mintmark.
The 1909-S Indian head cent is one of only two Indian cents with mintmarks, the other being the 1908-S. Counterfeiters simply add an “S” to an inexpensive 1909-P.
The same process of adding mintmarks is used for two of the most popular Morgan dollars, the 1889-CC (350,000 minted) and the 1893-S (100,000 minted).
Detecting Fakes
If you suspect your coin is not genuine, it does help to consult an expert. There are many in Facebook coin groups, with my favorite being Jack Young’s “Fun with Fakes.”
First, a little about Young, an engineer and counterfeit expert. He has worked as a consultant to the Secret Service and U.S. Senate Finance Committee and is a well-known numismatic and award-winning author.
If you doubted the introduction of this article about the unsuspecting newbie, join his group and see all the eBay fakes that people buy now directly from China.
Here’s one:
To identify counterfeits, you need to read, just as Young and others have done to enhance their numismatic education. Many recommend the Red Book, or A Guide Book of United States Coins. You can also subscribe to educational numismatic sites such as Proxiblog.org.
Once you have learned from books, groups and websites, you need to master these detecting skills:
Visual inspection
Compare your coin to one graded by a top company, such as PCGS or NGC. I recommend PCGS Gold Shield coins with excellent TrueView photos that you can blow up and study. You can use a coin microscope to view the edges, dates and devices for strike evidence, looking for those casting bubbles or blurry details.
Here’s what I did to show the difference between a fake and real 1893-S Morgan dollar.
Check Metal and Patina
Experienced hobbyists have looked at so many authentic coins that they easily identify base metal ones by the toning of the fields. They know the ping of silver by sound alone. They do not need a magnet to detect base metals, but beginners might purchase one. If it sticks, you’re stuck with a counterfeit.
What to Do if Scammed
If you have purchased a fake coin, contact the seller and return it. Even though eBay has attracted counterfeiters, you might be protected if returns are accepted or if you make a complaint to the company (frequently unsuccessful).
If you used PayPal, you could open a case there.
If you bought the coin from an online auction company, such as found on HiBid.com or LiveAuctioneers, you may not be able to return the coin because auctioneers will insist that all sales are final. Technically, selling a fake is illegal. But good luck threatening and then suing an auctioneer if you have agreed to their service terms. The best you might do is share the Hobby Protection Act, which states:
“The manufacture in the United States, or the importation into the United States, for introduction into or distribution in commerce, or the sale in commerce of any imitation numismatic item which is not plainly and permanently marked ‘copy,’ is unlawful and is an unfair or deceptive act or practice in commerce under the Federal Trade Commission Act.”
In any case, do not try to sell the coin. Take the coin out of hobby circulation and use it as an educational showpiece to enlighten others. You can also report your case to the U.S. Secret Service field office. Finally, join “Fun with Fakes” on Facebook and share your story so that others know the pitfalls of counterfeit coins.
If you like posts like this, you can read more articles on counterfeit coins by Jack Riley, Jack D. Young and Michael Bugeja at this URL. Also, please subscribe so you can get our weekly newsletter and be informed whenever there is a new article or column.
If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.
Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and other social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.
You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.
The 1976 Bicentennial Quarter is one of the most sought-after modern coins being collected today, and that fact increases the value of any variety, error or design deviation on any of the clad Philadelphia/Denver and silver San Francisco mints.
The most valuable of errors, really a variety because all coins of the 1976-D were struck that way, is the doubling especially noticeable on the “R” of “Liberty.” Let’s focus on that first before we list some of the possible errors you might find on this popular quarter.
PCGS has labeled this double die FS-101, and depending on the condition of the coin (to be discussed later) on the Sheldon 1-70 scale, you might hit the jackpot if you can find one.
A lesser double die is the FS-102 variety:
To see if you have found one of these, again compare the “R” in “Liberty” and you will note that the FS-102 variety lacks a clear double die on the left stem of the letter “R”:
PCGS explains the error in this video:
The DDO is so rare that PCGS has only holdered fewer than 60 of this type. However, it estimates that 850 are out there. So you still can find one.
Even lower grades like this coin bring high premiums worth hundreds of dollars:
When searching for these varieties, you might turn up the fool’s gold of machine rather than hub doubling. Machine doubling happens when a loose die bounces slightly. The DD is flat and not part of the letter. Machine doubled coins do not bring premiums but buyer’s remorse.
Note that earlier I said “any” error or design deviation. That means you need to know what to look for, including such terms as cud, broadstruck, lamination, misalignment, filled/repunched mint mark and so on. Before you search for these, consult Proxiblog’s illustrated glossary.
Some common errors found on 1976 Philadelphia/Denver Bicentennial quarters include misaligned die, struck through grease, off center strike, filled mintmark and rotated collar.
If you find a high grade DDO/filled mint mark Bicentennial quarter, you really might have struck it rich with this variety/error combination.
High grades on Bicentennial quarters without any errors also bring high premiums, often in the hundreds and thousands for MS67+, MS68 and the rarest, MS69.
You are not going to find those high grades in pocket change. The best places are rolls and US Mint products. Those depicted below are available from the coin company APMEX:
That brings us to condition issues. Value decreases if a Details grade is given to any error, variety or design deviation of the Bicentennial quarter. That means damage, cleaning, artificial coloring and other issues that deny a numerical grade.
Be especially wary about these issues if bidding on a raw coin. Amateur sellers typically just post a face value coin, call it a DDO and ask for Buy It Now/Best Offer prices in the hundreds. Here’s an example of a cleaned face value quarter that this seller wants $440 for:
If you do not know how to grade or find errors, only bid and buy holdered Bicentennial quarters from PCGS, NGC, ANACS and CAC.
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You can find more information about grading, varieties, errors, bidding and buying on eBay in my new book, Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.
