About grading gold coins

Hello,

As you might know by reading some of my other posts, I haven't been
collecting coins very long -- perhaps two or three years now, and only
since the last few months or so have I started to build up my
collection in earnest. I have found the level of knowledge and
readiness to help on this newsgroup nothing short of astonishing, and
I learn a great deal every day just by lurking around and posting an
occasional question or two which have always been most graciously and
tactfully answered. A big "thank you" to everyone who has helped me
out!

So here is my new question: In addition to my other coin interests, I
have started to collect some gold coins -- mostly Swiss "Vreneli" of
10 and 20 Franc denomination as well as Russian gold rubles from
around 1890 to just before the revolution. For some reason, I find
that it is easier to pick these up in eBay auctions for about the
retail prices listed for XF-AU to MS-60 (German equivalent is "vz" to
"unz" or from "vorzüglich" to "unzirkuliert"). Of course, the dealers
will sometimes overgrade these uncertified coins in their auctions
(saying "STGL" = "Stempelglanz" which would be gem uncirculated, or
MS-63/65), but I always assume that the actual grade is AU at best
(hard to tell from the pictures) and bid accordingly (also, I do
snipeg). Since I only bid from reputable dealers and all of them
guarantee that the coins are genuine, I am not worried about fakes.
But since I am a bit in the dark about proper grading of gold coins
anyway, I someimes wonder if I am doing anything wrong.

In the meantime, I have received a few of these and have examined them
closely and photographed them. Although quite shiny and pleasing to
the eye, under the magnifying glass there are quite a few tiny little
surface scratches on all of them which are invisible to the naked eye.
Nothing like cleaning damage, of course, but probably more like
contact marks or surface friction with other coins or holders. The
detail is all there. Am I being overly hyper?

With gold, corrosion is pretty much a non-issue, and these coins were
not circulated at all to begin with (at least this is true for the
Swiss coins; I assume that the Russian coins might have circulated for
5 or 6 years at most until the revolution began and people either fled
with them or hoarded them -- I have ordered a book by Severin, "Gold
and Platinum Coinage of Imperial Russia 1701-1911", but it hasn't
arrived yet, so this assumption may not be correct). Gold, after all,
is much more malleable than silver and presumably that much more
vulnerable to the type of marks I am talking about. In German, one
would likely say that the fields are "porous" ("porös"). I am sure
that these coins have passed through many collectors' hands, even if
they were never circulated.

Actually, I have a few questions now:

(1) Can anyone give me titles of any literature concerning grading
gold coins? I think this must be quite different than the normal
procedures with silver and other metals. I have purchased a Russian
gold coin graded MS-63 by NGC which hasn't arrived yet. I am curious
to see how it compares with the others.

(2) Are standard 2x2 cardboard holders with self-adhesive plastic
liners adequate for storing these coins? In Switzerland where I live,
I use the ones made by the company "Hartberger" which is located in
the Netherlands.

(3) In general, how long can these holders be used before they should
be replaced? And what about for coins of other metals?

Thanks!

--
Bob Hairgrove