Our Grading Philosophy

Many of the coins we catalogue have been independently graded and certified by one or more of ICCS, NGC and PCGS, the most recognized standards for Canadian coins. Census data we use in coin descriptions are extracted from the most recent issue of the ICCS Population Report and the online  NGC and PCGS Population Reports. For many coins, in addition to the grade, we add commentary on the eye appeal of the coin. This is very important with the Canadian grading standards used by ICCS, since eye appeal will significantly affect the values of the coins.

Your attention is directed to the PCGS Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection, which is more easily referred to as the PCGS Grading Guide. The chapters titled "PCGS Grading Standards" and "Elements of a Coin’s Grade", show that there are distinct differences between the grading standards of Canada and those of the American grading services. The American services use five elements to determine the grade of a coin: Wear or Contact Marks (circulated or Mintstate); Strike; Lustre; Color and Toning; and Eye Appeal.

Canadian grading uses only the first three, preferring not to factor Toning and Eye Appeal into the grade. The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins says: "Toning is not a grading factor — unlike popular belief, the toning that might be present on a coin and which might add considerably to the coin’s eye appeal is not to be considered one of the grading elements. Toning is an enhancing feature that might affect the coins (sic) final price but not its grade." According to Haxby and Willey’s Coins of Canada, "These toning features, while an integral part of a coin’s price, do not form part of its grade assignment." In Canada, the Eye Appeal of a coin is assessed separately and then used to determine the value of the piece.

The values listed in Trends in each issue of Canadian Coin News refer to pieces with neutral or average Eye Appeal. To these values, a premium is applied for the Eye Appeal to arrive at the market value of the coin. The Cornwell Report has for the past few years presented these values in tabular form, showing values for Average, Great and Superb Eye Appeal. The incremental increase from Average to Great Eye Appeal ranges from less than 15% to as much as 150%, making some pieces worth two-and-a-half times their ordinary value. Coins with truly Superb Eye Appeal are, according to the Cornwell Report, "priced as if at the next higher technical grade level, sometimes higher".

In the PCGS Grading Guide it is stated that they take Eye Appeal into consideration in grading a coin. Their grades are generally referred to as the "Market Grade" of a coin, and it is important to understand the implications of this as more and more Canadian coins become certified by PCGS (and by NGC, which also employs Market Grading). It seems that the American and Canadian grading systems each travel by different routes to arrive at the same destination.

The American services (PCGS & NGC) certify and guarantee a market grade, which includes the Technical Grade plus an Eye Appeal factor. The Canadian service (ICCS) certifies its opinion of the Technical Grade only, and leaves the interpretation of a coin’s Eye Appeal factor to the owner of the coin, and often to a negotiated agreement between the buyer and the seller. This is why we very often see ICCS AU-58 coins selling for prices near, at or above MS-62 values, and PCGS or NGC MS-62 pieces cross-graded AU-58 by ICCS selling at those same MS-62 levels. Similarly, PCGS or NGC MS-65 pieces cross-graded by ICCS as MS-64 almost invariably have well above average eye appeal, and demand much stronger prices than for the ICCS Technical Grade alone.

In the final analysis, it comes down to a matter of deciding whether you want the Eye Appeal factor added in with the Technical Grade and guaranteed as a Market Grade, or whether you wish to simply have an opinion of the Technical Grade of the coin. Whatever your choice, remember that you are buying coins, not certificates or holders. Buy what you like, buy what captivates you, buy the coin based on your agreement with whatever is represented on the holder and by the seller.

Besides ICCS, NGC and PCGS, there are other coin certification services, such as ACG, ANACS, ICG, PCI and SEGS. Some of these services use grading parameters and standards that are different from those used by the major services and/or their consistency in applying their grading standards is not as predictable. Generally when cataloguing such pieces, we base the catalogue estimate on the grade of the coin rather than on the grade on the certificate.