During the festive period, many people decide to buy coins to kickstart their collection in the New Year, or to gift to their loved ones. In order to provide our new and existing clients with as much information as possible, we sat down and spoke to heritage British coin expert Peter Hutchison about all things coin related!
Find out what he had to say here…
Coin Grading – The In’s and Out’s
In Britain, the original grading scale classed every coin as either ‘Fine’ or ‘Extremely Fine’ – these were the only options. As times changed, extra steps were added into that scheme: ‘Good’ and ‘Very Good’, both below Fine, and ‘Very Fine’, below Extremely Fine. That created five grading steps, which was even further expanded over time by dealers by adding ‘Almost’ or ‘Good’ to any of those grades, with ‘Almost Fine’ being less than Fine and ‘Good Fine’ being better than Fine, but less than ‘Almost Very Fine’.
For over one hundred years this was the grading scheme in Europe, and it didn’t include the grade ‘Uncirculated’, for the simple reason that it was considered that any coin that came from circulation couldn’t be ‘uncirculated’.
A Beginners Guide to Coin Collecting
Coin Collecting Glossary – What You Need to Know
If you’re interested in starting your own coin collection, but want to do a bit of research beforehand, we think the perfect place to start is learning some of the key terms.
Coin collecting can be both rewarding and intimidating at the same time, with it often seeming like coin collectors are speaking their own unique language. With that in mind, we have put together a glossary of terms to help you along the way and to allow you the best possible chance of starting and progressing your coin collection.