The primary function of a coin is to be touched. It is meant to be circulated, used, and eventually worn down to nothing. Ironically, the most valuable coins in history are the ones that never got a chance to be touched.
The coin grading system is based upon a 70-point scale created by the numismatist William Sheldon in 1949. These grades extend from a barely recognisable coin with deep scratches, corrosion, or other defects (60) up to the highest possible grade for a post-mint circulated coin (MS-67) or a Mint State coin with no post-mint imperfections visible at 5x magnification (MS-70). As most graders can attest few coins grade MS-70 and often go years between grading a coin of such high calibre.
The difference between two coins graded MS-63 and MS-65 could be in the region of a few hundred pounds for the lower graded coin and several thousand for the higher graded coin. In most cases the difference between the two higher grades is a cluster of bag marks or hairline scratches that have been incurred by the coin when it has been in bags with other coins since it was new. The coin in question will have never been taken out of a bag by a human hand and is therefore technically damaged. For more information on how coin dealers like https://www.hoskerhaynes.com/ visit their websites to find out more.
The 1794 Flowing Hair dollar is often the example cited of what can be created within the parameters of the system. In 1999, the SP-66 specimen (graded by PCGS) sold for a record price of over thirteen million pounds. This is not to say that the grader or graders had an easy job; the large number of collectors and experts who study the Flowing Hair dollars believe that there are many contact marks, some large and others hairline scratches. The point is that professional graders agree that the specimen in question is in exceptional condition. The word agreed is the key to this vast amount of money being spent on old silver. Coin Auctioneers is worth getting right.
It is the tiny flaws in the coin that bring the highest sums at auctions. Without the 70 points of the grading scale the old dollars and coins would be worth nothing at all. The tiny scratches on the surface of a coin, bag marks from contact with other coins in the bag, are enough to reduce the price of a coin by thousands of pounds. For the collector the grading is the whole story.
