I have been collecting coins for about a year now - I work in retail, so as you could imagine, I get to see many coins on any given work day (and as a result have managed to collect a decent number of coins not intended for circulation). I currently collect Australian decimal coins, as this is what I have access to (besides the New Zealand/Thai/American coins customers try to slip by me, but that's another story).
Anyway, getting to the point... I am very interested in entering my catalogue for trade, but I have no idea about how to grade coins! Of course, this is a skill I wish to pick up, but I live nowhere near a numismatic club (I live on the Mid-North coast of NSW, Australia), also, the hours I work preclude a lot of activities most folks take for granted, like attending club meetings.
If there are other ways to learn how to grade coins, I would love to hear about them. Any advice would be much appreciated.
In the crushing darkness of the ocean deeps, the Lurking Squid sits atop his burgeoning hoard of silver coins...
As a rule of thumb, to start with, most coins you handle are VF. They are clearly used, have scratches, but most details are still clearly visible. Coins that circulated but only show a few scratches and no meaningful wear are XF.
Coins in F have a lot of wear but legends are still readable. With non-legible parts you get in the VG area. People might disagree here but as I said before it's a starting point.
What you say is true of most of my collection, but sadly, not all (for instance, I have a particular coin which was not intended for circulation which nevertheless found its way into my album, albeit in less than VF condition). I think most of my coins have what is referred to (at least in Australia, I don't know about the rest of the world) as "bag marks".
However, I'm delighted to have most of the recent AUD $2 mintings (Olympics and Possum Magic) in, I guess, VF condition.
Thanks again, jokinen.
In the crushing darkness of the ocean deeps, the Lurking Squid sits atop his burgeoning hoard of silver coins...
Hello and welcome to numista
If you hit Numisdoc in right hand side Then go to numismatic encyclopedia. Then hit how to grade Has a short bit on grading with some images.
Then under numista documentation you will find how to enter your coins, how to start a swap.
Hope this is some help
Hi,
Here is an image I used when I first got into collecting to help me distinguish between the various grades. I believe I found this image on the Australian Numismatics Dealer's Association (ANDA) site.
Thank you all for your warm welcome and very useful advice. I can tell I'm going to enjoy my time at Numista and that it will be invaluable in my coin-collecting journey. I've spent the last couple of days entering my coins and hopefully some of mine might interest some of the other members - just a query, is my list available for all to see?
As for this week... I'm hoping to get hold of the third "Possum Magic" AUD$2 coin - though I'm a little bit too old to remember the story, the engraving (?) really is pleasing to the eye (mine, at least).
Of course, the set is (albeit to my inexperienced self) a steal for $15.00, so I might just opt for one of those instead, though the joy of seeing a new coin just show up in your till is half the fun.
In the crushing darkness of the ocean deeps, the Lurking Squid sits atop his burgeoning hoard of silver coins...
No your collection and swap coins are not visible.Hit your name and you will see Profile, settings, and Sign out.
go to Setting and on bottom you will box you can check , if you want people to see them.
Απόσπασμα: "ALLRED1950"No your collection and swap coins are not visible.Hit your name and you will see Profile, settings, and Sign out.
go to Setting and on bottom you will box you can check , if you want people to see them.
Much obliged, Allred, just this minute realised I needed to change my profile.
In the crushing darkness of the ocean deeps, the Lurking Squid sits atop his burgeoning hoard of silver coins...
