subject: Find Out What Grading Coins Means For A Safe Investment [print this page] Not being familiar with grading coins doesn't mean you cannot invest in gold bullion and gold coins. There are just some things you have to learn, or simply let the professionals take care of everything. Numismatics is considered to be a science and some say that it is even an art, due to the skills a collector must possess.
Grading coins means grading them according to well established criteria. If in the past there were only new or used coins, nowadays things are a little bit more complicated. Things stared to change when people became aware of the fact that a coin looses value if it is too used. So a third category was added to the scale, coins being graded as good, fine and uncirculated. The uncirculated coins were to most rare, as they have to be almost at the same as they were at the mint.
Contemporary times brought a wider scale, and even different grading conditions for different parts of the world. Europe and US run similar grading coins scales but with small variations. The first widely known scale is the Sheldon grading system, a scale running from 0 to 70, where 70 stands for a perfect coin. Another grading system developed latter on and took into account the percentage of design that was still visible on the coin. This is the European adjectival grading system, where coins are categorized as Good (10%), Very good, Fine, Very fine, Extra Fine, About Uncirculated, Uncirculated and Brilliant Uncirculated (100% design and full luster). Each country from Europe uses this system but has different names or acronyms for each category.
The value of coins and especially those made of gold gets to be established according to these grading systems and other factors such as the age, the number of coins originally minted, and the conditions it is at the moment of purchase. Professionals know everything about this elements they must consider and can advise you if you decide to buy gold bullion. You don't have to be an expert. It is enough to ask specialist in the field what gold coins to purchase.
In a period of such financial struggles no one can afford to risk loosing his money in risky investments. Golden bullion and coins bullion never loose their value, and are nowadays the safest investment possible.
