Coin Grading and Condition

Condition is the largest variable in a coin’s price and the one most easily destroyed at home.

The trade prices condition on a numbered scale, a grading service sells its opinion of where a coin sits on it, and a coin that has been cleaned leaves the scale altogether. The answers here cover what the number means, who issues it, when it is worth paying for and what takes a coin off the scale altogether.

Read them before doing anything to a coin. Almost every avoidable loss in this section happens in the first ten minutes somebody owns a coin, with a cloth.

Does condition affect a coin’s value?

Condition is the largest single factor in what a coin is worth, and on a common date it is the only one: the same coin worn smooth and the same coin as it left the press can differ in price by fifty times or more. The line that matters most is whether the coin has been circulated at all.

What is coin grading?

Coin grading is the assessment of how much wear and how many marks a coin carries, expressed as a number from 1 to 70 on a scale the whole trade prices against. A grading service seals the coin in a tamper-evident holder with that number on it, which turns one person’s opinion into something a buyer will pay against without seeing the coin.

Does cleaning a coin reduce its value?

Yes, and on a collectable coin the loss is severe: cleaning strips the original surface, the trade recognises it instantly, and a cleaned coin sells for a fraction of what the same coin would have brought untouched. The damage cannot be undone, so the rule is to do nothing until you know what you have.

How can I tell if my coin is fake?

Weigh it and measure it first, because a counterfeit that matches the design rarely matches the specifications to a tenth of a gram. Then check the magnet, the edge, the sound and the mint mark, and on anything worth four figures have a grading service settle it rather than the internet.

Should I get my coin graded?

Only when the grade is worth more than the fee, which rules out most circulated coins: grading costs the same on a coin worth its metal as on one worth thousands. Submit when the coin is scarce, when it looks uncirculated, when it is worth faking, when you are selling to somebody who cannot handle it first — or when you are keeping it and want it sealed against handling and the air.