Coin Collectors Worry TOO MUCH about Grading.

Collectors worry too much about condition grading.

And now, even David Bowers – our professor emeritus – is calling for a simplification of the grading system. He is taking “the industry” to task in Coin World. Here, he focuses on the eleven Mint State grades of 60 to 70, and to a lesser extent, he is concerned with the numerical system that ranges from1 to 59.

Will folks listen? And what folks are these?

The graders? The collectors? Certified graders? Certified collectors?

It does not matter. No one will listen. If we scale back, we will simply be more confused with plus (+), and double plus (++) grades, and so on.

The problem is this: Bowers and others obfuscate. They confuse the buying and selling of coins with collecting.

Somewhere along the line, collectors were indoctrinated that coins are an investment. Bowers and others have spent their careers talking about how rare coins are valuable. It is now expected that “smart” collecting brings riches.

VF-25. Really?

This was the beginning of the end. Then came the slabs. And the market reports.

Next thing you know, dealers and (some) collectors began expecting and hoping that grading would morph into a science. They also hoped that collecting strategies would become “scientific” just as stockbrokers would like you to believe.

Once coins start to trade sight-unseen … well, need I say more? We have lost our soul.

Alas, it is no surprise that coin collecting seems to be losing its allure – no wonder that many are worried about the future of coin collecting.

Well, let me break it to you. The demographics are changing: we will lose collectors. Also, we have too many folks in coin collecting that are not “true” collectors.

Now you are probably thinking: What is a true collector?

Are we going to get nasty? Are we going to start rating collectors?

No and No.

But consider this.

Collecting is not about buying and selling. Collecting is about passionate acquisition according to a plan that is completely divorced from all notions of market value. It is an irrational pursuit at its core. Sure, some collectors tout themselves as historians and that is fine (count me in – I like playing in the sandbox too).

But above all, true collectors know what they like. True collectors study their coins because they love them (and they cannot stop looking at them). True collectors know (or are learning) all about grading despite being shy on numerals.

Collectors do not need to be certified. Please Mr. Bowers, do not advocate that! Rather, collectors do need help with authentication – we all want to learn. If there is a rhino in the room, it is fakery. 

This needs to be given priority.

So let’s be clear. Grading is not the problem. The notion that coins are investments is the problem: it is blasphemy.