How grades work
A grade is a shorthand for wear and marks. This site uses the Sheldon numbers already locked in the repo: Poor at P-1, Mint State at MS-70. Proofs get a PR prefix. The number is an opinion. Two people can look at the same coin and land a point apart.
Do not invent plus grades or extra names here. If a label is not on this page, this site will not print it. Series articles — the Morgan dollar, the Lincoln Wheat cent, the Buffalo nickel, the Mercury dime, and the Liberty Head nickel — talk about how a coin actually wears. The grids live here.
These charts are names and numbers, not a series plate set. The photos that show what VF looks like live at PCGS Photograde. We link there instead of copying them.
Circulation grades P-1 through MS-70
The everyday scale. A coin that spent time in a pocket lives somewhere in Poor through About Uncirculated. Mint State starts at MS-60. The names repeat as the numbers climb; the numbers are the point.
Circulation grades on the Sheldon scale, P-1 through MS-70.
P-1
Poor
FR-2
Fair
AG-3
About Good
G-4
Good
G-6
Good
VG-8
Very Good
VG-10
Very Good
F-12
Fine
F-15
Fine
VF-20
Very Fine
VF-25
Very Fine
VF-30
Very Fine
VF-35
Very Fine
EF-40
Extremely Fine
EF-45
Extremely Fine
AU-50
About Uncirculated
AU-53
About Uncirculated
AU-55
About Uncirculated
AU-58
About Uncirculated
MS-60
Mint State
MS-61
Mint State
MS-62
Mint State
MS-63
Mint State
MS-64
Mint State
MS-65
Mint State
MS-66
Mint State
MS-67
Mint State
MS-68
Mint State
MS-69
Mint State
MS-70
Mint State
Proof grades PR-60 through PR-70
Proofs were made as proofs. They are not circulation strikes that someone shined later. This site prints PR-60 through PR-70. No extra proof numbers.
Proof grades, PR-60 through PR-70.
PR-60
Proof
PR-61
Proof
PR-62
Proof
PR-63
Proof
PR-64
Proof
PR-65
Proof
PR-66
Proof
PR-67
Proof
PR-68
Proof
PR-69
Proof
PR-70
Proof
Cameo / DCAM
Cameo and Deep Cameo describe contrast on a proof: frosted devices against mirrored fields. They are labels, not extra numbers. A business-strike Morgan with a white cheek is not a Deep Cameo.
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| — | No cameo contrast called on the label |
| CAM | Cameo |
| DCAM | Deep Cameo |
Copper color BN / RB / RD
BN, RB, and RD describe remaining original color on uncirculated copper. They belong on cents, not on Morgans. Brown can be honest. A dipped “red” coin is not red in the way a collector means it.
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BN | Brown |
| RB | Red-Brown |
| RD | Red |