Vinnie: I do not seek any more 26 EU AGEs…..good luck with your pursuit. I need some more 26 AGE Proof fractionals…..I give them as gifts and had more graduations than expected plus an upcoming birth…actually hoping the mint makes more, but not expected at this point…

For what its worth and how befitting, I tried posting the table and was denied, “This comment is not acceptable.”

Maybe they need a series of James Bond coins. I remember 007 being in fights, motoring on speedboats, swimming in the ocean, and other feats of derring-do. Yet, his hair was always perfect. Man, I need that guy’s hair care regimen.

“What are the qualities that lend conditional beauty to a coin?”

Aye, and there is the crux, E1. The same question can be asked about flowers, paintings, plays, movies, songs, vistas, and even porn (a Supreme Court Justice once opined, “I know it when I see it”).

Perhaps the CAC green bean is the best currently available measure of the aesthetics of a coin. Those coins generally “present” better than their same-grade brethren. Not always, but generally.

To me, the stumbling block of grading IS the art of coinage. One person’s beautifully toned specimen is another’s tarnished, corroded junk. One of my favorite coins is a “Details – Counterstrike” 1838-C half eagle. I obviously got it for less than a same-grade “clean” coin. The thought that a long-forgotten miner in Western North Carolina might have punched his ownership brand (an “L”) into the gold appeals to me aesthetically. I remember listening to an interview with a collector who collected not only the top pop coin in a series but also the worst-graded coin in the same series.

Perhaps the answer is a scientific baseline with a “blue ribbon’ (green bean) human acknowledgement. I suspect that my wayward 1838-C would likely fail both analyses. Oh well, I know what I like when I see it.

@DaveSWFL, I still have zero quarters, dime and halves. I got another nickel last week at Smiths which is the local Krogers affiliate. When will the floodgates open.

I think AI would be able to provide the mechanical conformity algorithms needed to physically inspect coins. Additionally, automated instrumentation or sophisticated metrology instruments would be required to collect the physical measurement data and digitize it. So, it would be an automated metrology platform similar to those used in the semiconductor industry. The US Mint may already have such instrumentation in-house. Pattern recognition, CMMs, surface profilometers, spectrophotometers, and weight systems for such tasks are currently commercial off-the-shelf technology. Therefore, it is just a matter of an algorithm (AI software) before such systems begin to appear in the grading industry. However, it is the “Eye Appeal” aspect of the grading process that poses the greatest challenge. This is where aesthetics comes into play. So, I ask you all this one very serious question, “What are the qualities that lend conditional beauty to a coin?”

Peace Out

@HarryB, I really the the 2026 EU AGE is done, but it is always when I don’t check that one shows up. The I scan for other products that are CU and changes for the product that are not. 5:22AM is still painful, but on weekends I can sleep in.

LOL!

I agree that a linear measure is best. But how and why did it land on 0 to 70? And what about the “+” delineations, which seem to show up only in the 60-70 range? I’ve seen plenty of 66+/67+, but no 53+. Grading, to me at least, still seems pretty vague and interpretive. When a coin so encrusted that I can barely make out the letters of “United States” gets an MS-68, I’m left wondering WTF.

I wonder if navigating the precision of grading would be an ideal task for AI. Obviously, standards would have to be imposed and programmed. Seems to me that human guesswork is counter to scientific measurement. The eye of the beholder does not equal an exact measure of mass or volume. Even here, with collectors with outstanding knowledge, they are sometimes surprised by grades higher or lower than expected. Seemingly, resubmission should ALWAYS get the same grade (unless the coin has been degraded in some way).

I wholeheartedly agree that any new grading scale measure should include the old grade on the slab label (at least until the new scale has become the unquestioned standard after a period of years).

Sure glad I got an uncirculated set. I’ve quit asking at the banks because they just laugh at you when you ask.