Coin grading and abbreviations
Coin grading and antique coin abbreviations Click here to e-mail

Grading

We use the English grading system which ranges from Poor-FDC as follows:

Poor -
Fair -
Fine (F)
Very Fine (VF)
Extremely Fine (EF)
Uncirculated (UNC)
Brilliant Uncirculated (BU)
Fleur De Coin (FDC)

Sometimes the grade is modified by the following pre-fixes:

Abt. About (ie slightly below the stated grade)
A Almost
G Good
N Nearly
+ Slightly better than
- Grade is between
/ Obverse grade before and Reverse graded after
   

Authenticity

All modern proofs are FDC and cased with certificate of authenticity unless stated. * denotes R. Ingram Coins certificate of authenticity.

Slabbed coins

These coins are contained in a hard plastic case. Most are graded independently by American companies which conform to US grading standards which ranges from MS-0 to MS-70 where VF begins at MS-20, EF at MS-40, AU at MS-50 and Unc at MS-60. There is also an English company which slabs coins conforming to English grading standards which ranges from 1-100.

Abbreviations

b/ms Bagmarks
cld. Cleaned
CD Clear date
cor. Corrosion
cr/m(s) Creasemarks(s)
dty. Dirty
e/b(s) Edge bump(s)
e/k(s) Edge knock(s)
h/l(s) Hairline(s)
m/m(s) Mountmark(s)
Obv. Obverse
o/w Otherwise
ptd. Pitted
pgd. Plugged
Rev. Reverse
scr(s). Scratch(es)
sig. Significant
sl. Slight(ly)
sm. Small
sur. Surface
t. Tiny
vdgs. Verdigris
w/o Without

Reference books

ESC refers to English Silver coinage
F refers to Freeman
MI refers to Medallic Illustrations
N refers to North
P refers to Peck
S refers to Spink’s catalogue of British coins 2007 or, where appropriate, Spink's coins of Scotland and Ireland 2003.



We use the English grading system at R. Ingram Coins to grade most of our old and rare coins. It uses abbreviations to describe quality, rather than a numerical system as used in the USA. We use this method because it is ideal for the old English coins of which we have a huge stock, including many Guineas, Crowns and Half Crowns of the highest quality.


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