ms69 vs ms70

Hi all, I'm a relative newbie when it comes to coin collecting so
please forgive
the seemingly "dumb" questions.

I've been collection the American Eagle Silver Dollar. I'm trying to
get the
best ones graded ms69 or ms70, as well as first strikes.

I do most all of my collectiong thru Ebay

It seems that some of the graders will not grade anything ms70 while
most
others do. is there a reason for this?.

When comparing a ms70 coin to a ms69 coin, I can not find any
difference.
even under magnification. So is the ms70 coin actually worth anymore
than the ms69?

Seeing as ms70 would be a perfect coin, should ANY coins really be
graded ms70?

Thanks, Phil

You are gaining wisdom that many who have been collecting for years
still don't seem to have. First, not all grading companies are equal,
by far. Until you understand this you need to keep your wallet closed.

If you can't see the difference between an MS69 and an MS70, is the
MS70 worth more to you? The truth is, even PCGS, the most respected
grading company when it comes to MS70 coins, has coins in MS69 holders
that look better than other coins in their MS70 holders. Graders are
not perfect and people pay for the label, often for registry fame and
often because they don't know any better.

If you don't understand the difference, don't pay for it.

Capri wrote:
Hi all, I'm a relative newbie when it comes to coin collecting so
please forgive
the seemingly "dumb" questions.

I've been collection the American Eagle Silver Dollar. I'm trying to
get the
best ones graded ms69 or ms70, as well as first strikes...

Phil, you are probably referring to the PCGS MS69 log jam. PCGS rarely
grades MS70 eagles. I submitted a half roll of the most perfect, best
struck coins I'd ever seen last year and they came back with MS69 on
them. I bought a few other MS69 coins to compare them to and realized
that a PCGS 69 could be anything from a average strike coin with dings
to a perfect, well struck coin.

The only recommendation I have for someone who plans to sell eagles is:
If you think the coins will earn a 70, send them to NGC. If you think
they will earn a 69 or less, send them to PCGS. The logic is that NGC
MS70 earns more than a PCGS MS69, but anything less than a MS70 earns
more in a PCGS slab.

I sold the PCGS eagles I had graded and, with good pictures, they
brought twice the price of the other MS69 PCGS coins (cherry picking),
but still not as much as the NGC MS70's -- many which were not as well
struck. Lesson learned.

PCGS was talking about a 100 point grading scale. The MS69 problem they
have for modern bullion might be worked out that way. It's the only
benefit I see to the 100 point scale if PCGS continues to be shy of
granting MS70 to perfect coins.

Anita

Here is my MS70 story, which I have told before.

A couple years ago I submitted four 2000-W Library of Congress Bi-metallic
commemoratives. Very low mintage, about 6800. Issue price from The Mint was,
I think, $390.00 each. I handed them to NGC at a Long Beach show for same
day turnaround. I loitered around. I ate lunch. (Insert Bernard Herrmann
suspense music here..) .. I kept checking back. Not done yet. I asked if
they'd call my cell phone when they were ready. They said no. Come back in
an hour. Came back in an hour. Sorry, not ready yet, come back in another
hour. More loitering, looked at a few hundred tables. Drooled all over
dealer cases filled with impossibly expensive rarities. Plowed through boxes
filled with Proof sets looking for Accented Hair JFK halves. Sat down and
had a $5.00 hot dog and a $12.00 Coke. Read magazines. Walked out front to
have a smoke in the outside smokers' ghetto. Finally, checked back at NGC.
Ah yes, as she dug through bins full of fresh slabs, here are your coins. I
was handed back two MS69s and two MS70s.

When the girl at their booth handed me the four slabs and I saw two of them
were MS70s I actually yelled out loud, took her hand and kissed it. I ****
you not. She turned 12 shades of blush and the other NGC people spun their
heads around and grinned.

After bringing them home and examining them with my loupe, very carefully, I
could see a couple of microscopic hits on the MS69s and absolutely NO hits
of any kind anywhere on the MS70s. I decided their grading was 100% spot on
accurate. I probably looked at them for half a minute each, about the same
amount of time a highly paid professional grader looks at each coin. I drew
the conclusion that they saw what I saw.

I had to eBay the coins as at that time I was strapped for cash. I got close
to two grand each for the MS70s. I wish I had kept them because now they
would be worth close to a thousand more each, but I had no choice. I needed
the money.

I don't know how PCGS would have graded those four coins. I'll never know.
If any of them had come back MS70, they would have been worth over four
grand each.

I have submitted Modern Commemoratives which I deemed to be flawless to PCGS
and NEVER gotten back an MS70. Every single one is always a 69. I don't own
a single PCGS 70-anything. Is NGC "looser"? I don't know. I have my own
opinions about this but I wasn't about to crack out two NGC MS70s and give
them to PCGS as a science experiment. Would you?

And that's all I have to say about that.

Harv