You never have to pay anyone to grade your circulated coins. (because you will learn the secrets of grading your own) All you need to do is RATE it yourself is follow these easy step below. This system id ONLY for Circulated Coins, those that you would never send to a Professional grader.

1. You need is a Large Coin flip. (these are plastic with 2 openings, one for coin one for data)
2. You need spreadsheet that's free, (ie: Google sheet)
3. You need photgrading pictures. (highlight the Green link below and copy in it's own window)
4. You need alittle time to Learn, but it will pay off quickly as you learn how to rate your circulated coins.
5. You also must have an 8x to 10x eye piece.
This Rating is not an Official Grade, it does allow you to catalog your coins by Rating them. It will also help you to improve your collection as the days go by and you will become a better grader of coins.

Click this link for PHOTOGRADING pictures

1. Look at your the Obverse of your coin & match it to the picture in photograding. When you find a good match, look at the "WORDS" not the numbers, IE: FINE, Very Fine, Very good etc.

2. Now look at the "MYrating chart", & fine those words. These numbers are spread by a group of 10. Pick the best number under the words. IE: Fine, 31-40 pick 33! That value is now "My-Grade" or rating. (you are not done.)

3. You still need to Subtract for the 3 conditions that was not produced by the US Mint, so be patient.

4. Look at the Obverse side of the coin and make a judgement regarding has been "Cleaned" or "should be cleaned". scale is 1 to 10 (with 10 being the worse: (really needs cleaning or was really cleaned) Subtract that value from "my-Grade" value from above.

NOTE: Never clean your coins! Experts will tell you it's ruined! BUT if you are never going to have the coin graded by an expert... do what you want.

5. Look a the Obverse of your coin and determine how much "Damaged": scratches, dings, SPOTS any thing that wasn't put there by the US Mint. Subtract that value from my-grade.

6. Look at the Obverse side of the coin and estimate on a scale from 1 to 10 has that coin been "ALTERED" IE: Polished, grinding, Corrosion - degree of corrosion Light to Heavy. IE: ground with a grinding wheel =10 Scale from 10 to 1 and then Subract from my-grade.

This is the best part. "OTHER" what is other? is there any mint errors, minor mint errors. (yes, you get credit for minor errors-don't worry there really isn't that many based on the Total amount made by the US Mint)

7 . Judge "other"! you are looking for a mint ERRORS or Minor errors.
IE: Machine-Double Die, Cracked Skull- Die Cracks etc. If there are none, it's a +0.
If there is an error, you decide on a scale from 1 to 10 and "ADD" it to "my-grading".
(You really can't be wrong, because it's your coin. You can aways change you mind later.)

Yes! you actually get to RATE the reverse of your coin. Experts only grade one value. If you have 2 sides, you need to RATE 2 sides. It's your reference. It's your system. It's ok to have a rating for both sides of a coin.

A . Look at your the REVERSE of your coin & match it to the picture in photograding. When you find a good match, look at the "WORDS" not the numbers, IE: FINE, Very Fine, Very good etc.

B. Now look at the above chart, & fine those words. These numbers are spread by a group of 10. Pick the best number under the words. IE: Fine, 31-40 pick 33! That value is now "My-Grade" or rating. (you are not done.)

C. Look at the Reverse side of the coin and make a judgement regarding has been "Cleaned" or should be cleaned. scale is 1 to 10 (with 10 being the worse: (really needs cleaning or was really cleaned) Subtract that value from "my-Grade" value from above.

D. Look a the REVERSE of your coin and determine how much "Damaged": scratches, dings, SPOTS any thing that wasn't put there by the US Mint. Subtract that value from my-grade.

E: Look at the REVERSE side of the coin and estimate on a scale from 1 to 10 has that coin been "ALTERED" IE: Polished, grinding, Corrosion - degree of corrosion Light to Heavy. IE: ground with a grinding wheel =10 Scale from 10 to 1 and then Subract from my-grade.

F. Judge "other"! you are looking for a mint ERRORS or Minor errors ON the REVERSE side only.
IE: Machine-Double Die, Cracked Skull- Die Cracks etc. If there are no, it's a +0.
If there is an error, you decide on a scale from 1 to 10 and "ADD" it to my-grading
(You really can't be wrong, because it's your coin. You can aways change you mind later.)

 You have NOW Rated (or Graded) the REVERSE side of your coin. It's important because it is your coin. Now we need to Print this information just like the examples below.

This is why you need a Spreedsheet program like Google. Then you put in what you just RATED in a Coin Flip just like the examples below.
Do this and you will have a full collection of Rated coins that you can look at over the next 10 years. Sure as time goes on you can re-rate any coiun you want because it's your coin.

This is what you can print if you have a spreadsheet Program. If you ask me, I will send you a TEMPLATE Spreadsheet. You can look up other data, IE: Type - mint mark -- Total Made % silver etc etc.

You can create an ID: 50 =denomination 1943p=years, 38=my final grade, 2=cleaned, 1= damaged, 0=altered, +0=other

ver4-7/23/2015 Copyright Black
AJ@circulatedCurrency.com