For starters, ancient coin grading is done according to wear. Ancient coins, unlike U.S. or other modern world coins are not “net graded”. Centering, strike, cracks, irregular flan shape, etc are side issues of quality. With certain ancient coins, certain defects such poor centering are common and expected. Judaean bronze coins are more often off-center than well centered. Silver/Billon antoninianii of the Roman empire often will have well struck portraits of emperors & empresses but will have weakly struck reverses, usually of a god or goddess.

Grades used by ancient coin sellers are usually:

FDC: Fleur De Coin - this is like AU or UNC in U.S. terms

EF/XF: Extra Fine - Only worn on the highest points such as the ear, radiate crown or laurel wreath on many Roman Imperial silver and later bronze coins. With a few exceptions, Judaean, Seleukid and Roman Provincial bronzes will rarely be found in this grade. EF silver coins shouls exhibit some lustre, EF bronze coins should have nice, smooth surfaces in most cases. Inscriptions/legends should be clear if not sharp unless they are off the flan or weakly struck.

VF: Very Fine - Moderate overall wear, “good VF” or VF coins will have a bit too much wear to be EF but might still exhibit lustre (for silver coins) or nice surfaces as noted above. Inscriptions/legends should be clear unless they are off the flan or weakly struck. VF coins should still have decent hair or beard detail for portraits although high points will show heavier wear.

Fine: Coins in Fine will be heavily worn and not show a lot of detail. That said, some well struck early Roman Imperial denarii if well centered may still have full or near full legends in this condition such as coins of Vespasian and Hadrian, this may also be true of large early coppers of large bronzes of Augustus, Claudius, Tiberius and other early emperors.

VG: Very Good - Coins in this grade usually are not very desirable but for certain series such as Lydian silver sigloi, Judaean bronzes and others, these coins are cheap and plentiful. These coins will be heavily worn, exhibit little or no detail but still be readily identifiable to type. Legends/Inscriptions will often be gone or down to only a few letters.

Fair/Poor: Self explanatory, slugs or near slugs. 1st century roman bronzes are often sold in bulk in this grade, identifiable only by the outline of the emperor’s head. Bulk lots of Judaean bronze coins will also be comprised of many coins in this grade.

A WORD ABOUT PLUS AND MINUS GRADES:

There is no equivalent to a R.S. Yeoman Redbook or Photograde guide to grading ancient coins, grading is subjective and one dealer’s VF is another’s about EF. Ancient coins were made under constantly shifting conditions of quality control. HOWEVER - some dealers have very liberal grading. Just because an ancient coin is well centered with full legends does NOT make it VF or EF. Some dealers will mislable a well worn yet well manufactured coin as to have a higher grade. This is a common problem with late Roman bronzes and Judaean bronzes.

Back to the main point though, my Fine maybe another seller’s aVF and Vice-Versa, not because he or I is more honest or dishonest or more liberal in grading but with plus and minus grades grading ancients can be far more subjective than grading American and other machine made coins.

Sometimes a seller will call a coin “Choice” because along with it’s wear grade, it is well centered, has full legends, is well struck, etc. I was once bought an ancient coin that was Fine for wear but was very well manufactured and the seller graded it “Fine “. I still think that is a silly sounding grade but in a way it made sense. The coin was Fine for wear but had full legends, was perfectly centered, had good surfaces and patination and also had high relief (albeit quite worn) and so while I would never grade a coin ” ” the designation made sense.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:

Strike: A Roman silver/billon antoninianus with a well struck up reverse is more desirable than one with a typically dull looking reverse struck from a worn die. You can have 2 coins that will both exhibit nice EF portraits but one will have an equally nice reverse and the other will not but both coins will grade “EF”. The same goes for VF coins. Look for things like a fully struck ear and sharp lettering, these are signs of a well struck coin. It is not uncommon to have a silver denarius or antoninianus that will be VF or EF and have several letters missing due to either the flan having insufficient silver or the die itself having a flaw.

Surfaces: Bronzes with nice surfaces will have a smooth and if brown - even “chocolate” quality. Silver coins will show lustre and will likely show bright lines or streaks going outward from the center or the edge lettering that will show the “push” of the metal when it was struck. On the other end of the spectrum you will have coins that show rough or porous surfaces. With some series like the Roman Provincial tetradrachms of Egypt or the billon tetradrachms of ancient India (Indo-Greek, Indo-Parthian, etc) many specimens will be rough or porous even in better grades because that is just the way they were made. In other cases it maybe the result of where they were. Quite a few Roman Provincial tetradrachms have recently appeared on the market that both look rough and are of a lighter weight because they were in salt water and the copper was partially leeched out leaving behind a rougher, lighter coin. That said, many coins of that series will be rough just because that is how the were made. Conscientious dealers will sometimes call such a coin, “Crude VF” or Crude Fine”, etc to note that the method of manufacture was simplistic and not concerned with executing attractive specimens.

Centering: You can have a coin that is EF or even FDC for wear and still have it be struck quite off center. A coin that is 10% or less off-center is still generally considered well centered for certain ancient coins EXCEPT for some late Roman bronzes. Coins of the Constantinian era were usually well centered, even lower grade coins of Constantine and his immediate family will often have full legends. Coins minted by Gallic usurpers such as Tetricus I & II and Victorinus will often be poorly centered, certain coins of Postumus tend to be a little better. Judaean coins are notoriously off center for many issues such as the sought after “Widows Mites” and Pontius Pilate coins. As noted above, certain series may be called “crude” for being frequently struck off center.

Cracks: Sometimes also called “stress fractures” - many ancient coins will show cracks, cracks often were caused by the metal being struck when it was too cool. Speaking in regard to Roman denarii and antoninianii - a crack that is 1, 2 or 3 millimeters long is of little concern. A small crack seen on only one side is of very little concern. A crack seen on both sides that is over 3 millimeters long may be of some concern but may also be perfectly stable. A crack that shows light through it is NOT GOOD. A crack longer than 3 millimeters, and seen on both sides, especially one that goes all the way to the center of the flan can be a serious problem. All that said, a coin may still be FDC, EF or VF for wear and have a crack in it. Certain very thin coins like Byzantine “cup” coins (billon, silver, electrum & gold) that have large cracks are problem coins. Also medieval English hammered silver coins with cracks can be quite brittle.

*A WORD ABOUT UNCLEANED COINS: Many sellers will offer coins described as “Premium” or “Super Premium” - these are largely invented terms, they have never been a part of any standard coin grading. There is an expectation of the coins being better grades such as VF and EF and you may find some but I once endeavored to find an uncleaned coin dealer who would define a difference between “Regular”, “Premium” and “Super Premium”. I was left with the impression that “Premium” and “Super Premium” were better than plain old regular uncleaned coins but nobody could give me a firm descriptive difference between “Premium” and “Super Premium” which leads me to believe it is a form of sales puffery.

I think if coins are advertised as a certain quality you should expect something like this:

Regular: Everything from Fair/Poor slugs to about VF, an occasional EF common coin might show up but don’t expect it. Anything sold at $1 each or less is a crapshoot, don’t expect much. Expect that 50% or more will be junk.

Premium: Expect 60 to 70% or more to be readily identifiable, but most will grade about Fine to VF with an expectation that every so many purchases you will come across a common EF coin such as a FEL TEMP or GLORIA EXERCITAS.

Super Premium: Expect 80 to 90% to be readily identifiable even while dirty. Minimum grade expectation should be Fine with an expectation of VF being the average grade, some a little better, some a little worse. Expect common EF coins to show up regularly but not in every batch.

* Only 1 uncleaned dealer liked my tidy categories, all the rest I communicated with balked at them. The bottom line is though when these “grades” are used for uncleaned coin lots, I think the buyer is entitled to a realistic minimum expectation, otherwise these “grades” are mere sales puffery.