- Godzilla
- See blazer. Bruce L. mentions he
first heard this term in 1980.
- Grade
- As in any collecting field, grade is of prime importance when evaluating
a coin. Coins can either be circulated, uncirculated (or
Mint State), or Proof (specially
prepared for sale to collectors). Circulated coins, at the time of this
writing in 1995, consisted of the following grades: Poor, Fair, About Good,
Good, Very Good, Fine, Very Fine, Extremely Fine (sometimes Extra Fine), and
About Uncirculated. Abbreviated they are: Poor, Fair, AG, G, VG, F, VF, EF
or XF, AU. Grade is very important when determining price. Take for example
an 1893 San Francisco Mint Silver Dollar. Here are some recent
bids: VG $535, F $775, VF $960, EF
$2575, AU $9500. It is plain to see that small advances in quality translate
into sometimes very large price jumps. It is also plain to see why grading
tends to have all the vagaries and cupidity of "humanity" imprinted upon it!
See particularization,
slider.
- Gray Sheet
- Also Sheet and CDN. The Coin
Dealer Newsletter, a popular wholesale pricing guide, was founded in
1963. In the late 1970s the Sheet was owned by a coin promoter and became a
tool for insider speculation but has since regained respectability. After
the advent of slabbing in 1986 a
Blue Sheet for slabbed coins appeared. The same publisher
offers a Green Sheet to paper money dealers, a monthly
Summary, and three Quarterly Summaries.
. . .
. . .
. . .
Numismatica / 15 Sep 2003