“I’m not a professional grader” You probably hear this a lot when shopping for coins on sites like eBay. Maybe you might have heard this once or twice at a coin show, though not as likely. In these cases the seller has pretty much just alleviated the responsibility of informing you that a coin might be cleaned, have a problem, over-graded, etc. In other words, you’re on your own. This can be a dangerous and risky experience for less experienced coin collectors. The less experience collector might end up paying too much for a coin or underestimate the how much a scratch can hurt the value. When I decided to seriously pursue this path I never imagined all of the various factors that go into the beauty of coins. I was always researching and looking up coins that I wanted but still managed to be overwhelmed when actually buying a coin. I made quite a few mistakes but I also managed to be a bit more informed. This is in part due to an app called PCGS Photograde. PCGS Photograde was created as a free reference tool for collectors in order to determine a grade of a coin. It is filled with every US coin series and has high-definition pictures of every US coin in every grade. Sometimes it’s just fun to scroll through and see how beautiful some coins look in their highest grades. At first glance it must be really helpful but I soon realized its’ many many shortfalls. Firstly while it does give a great idea of coins in circulated conditions, a somewhat inexperienced collector would have a tough time determining the differences between an MS-64 and an MS-65. Also there are no detailed descriptions of the differences between an MS-64 and an MS-65 or even a VF-30 and an EF-45. In addition to that, there aren’t any pictures of cleaned or problem coins. This should be a pretty basic feature and PCGS has not added it. If PCGS’s Photograde was a new application, I would have cut them some slack. However this app has been out for years now with no major updates or additions. All in all it is seriously lacking for the serious collector. There is no way a collector could seriously rely on this app. I originally started writing this review with the intentions of displaying the many uses of PCGS Photograde for the new collector and even the experienced. Although, I quickly realized that this app is extremely unhelpful and that unless you had an experienced collector with you, you really were on your own. So I am very disappointed with this app and give it a low 1.5 stars out of 5. -theSharpGun ************************* I will continue to write more reviews when I can. I know that there will be those who disagree with me and that’s great!! Please post your comments down below on why you think I was right or wrong. I’m still learning too and would love to hear more from you guys!! Thanks so much for reading!
You make some good points. However, I digress, because I would dearly love to see a similar PCGS Photograde App for Canadian coins...
Actually that was going to be another one of my negative points but didn't feel the need to include it for a couple of reasons. The fact that they don't have a PCGS Photograde for World Coins is somewhat irritating but also somewhat understandable. After all you can't have EVERY countries coins. That would be too much work and effort. I however might like to see a version of PCGS Photograde for countries like Canada and Germany, which have a slightly bigger coin collecting following. btw Thanks for reading and the response!!!
I think the app is good. We used the online version at ANA seminars to give us a basic I idea of grading before we saw actual coins. We were able to blow the pictures up very large on the projector also. Of course you have to see coins in hand to become a decent grader, but the app is great for reviewing and I would says help anyone see a MS-60 from a MS-65. Seeing a 62 for a 63 is not something that an app can be expected to teach you overnight. Also it would have many examples of problem coins to show all the different ways of cleaning and whizzing and so on.
