This is a basic guide to help you grade the condition of your rare coins:

UNCIRCULATED: (Unc) grades there will be no visible signs of wear or handling, even under a 30-power microscope. Bag marks may be present.

ALMOST UNCIRCULATED: (AU) all detail will be visible . There will be wear only on the high points of the coin. There will often be half or more of the original mint luster present.

EXTREMELY FINE: (XF or EF) coin, there will about 95% of the original detail visible. Or, on a coin with design with no inner detail wear down, there will ba a light wear over nearly all of the coin. If a small design is used as the grading area, about 90% of the original detail will be visible. This latter rule stems from the logic that a smaller amount of detail needs to be present because only a small area is being used to grade the whole coin.

VERY FINE: (VF) the coin will have about 75% of the original detail visible. Or on a coin with no inner detail , there will be moderate wear over the entire coin. Corners of letters and numbers may be weak. A small grading area will have about 66%of the original detail.

FINE: (F) there will be about about 50% of the original detail visible. Or on a coin with no inner detail, there will be fairly heavy wearover all the coin. Sides of letters will be weak . A typically uncleaned coin will often appear as dirty or dull . A small grading area will have just under 50% of the original detail.

VERY GOOD: (VG) there will be about 25% of the original detail visible. There will be heavy wear on all of the coin.

GOOD: (G) coins design will be clearly outlined but with substantial wear. Some of the larger detail may be visible. The rim might have weak spots of wear.

POOR:(P) there will typically be only a silhouete of a large design. The rim will be worn down into the letters if any.

If selling a coin, strong or weak strikes, partially weak strikes, damage, corrosion , dipping any evidence of cleaning should be described along with the above grades. These factors affect the quality of the coin just as do wear and loss of detail.

Each country has its own grading terminolgy and abbreviations, here are only a few examples:

US & ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES: 

PROOF *   UNCIRCULATED *   EXTREMELY FINE *   VERY FINE *   FINE *   VERY GOOD *   GOOD  *   POOR *

GERMANY:

    PP    *                STG             *                  VZ                 *           SS       *      S     *         S. G. E.      *     G.E.   *        G       *

FRANCE:

   FB    *                FDC             *                SUP                *          TTB     *    TB     *             B            *     TBC   *       BC     *

ITALY:

   FS    *                FDC            *                 SPL                *           BB      *   MB      *             B            *        M     *       

SPAIN:

Prueba *              SC             *                 EBC               *         MBC    *    BC +  *              BC         *       RC     *     MC    * 

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