GRADING
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The grading process is a team effort, with a minimum of three professional
grading experts examining every note. PMG's graders come from diverse
backgrounds, though all were notes dealers at some time in their careers.
In becoming familiar with market standards for grading, experience in
the commercial sector is an essential ingredient. Conversely, PMG's full-time
graders cannot be involved in the commercial buying and selling of notes.
The need for full-time graders to be prohibited from buying and selling
notes is a policy not adhered to by all grading services, but it's a firm
rule at PMG.
Each note is examined by one grader at a time, and he enters his grade
(using the Sheldon numerical scale from one to 70, an industry standard)
into the system.
The grading scale utilized by PMG is the one universally accepted within the numismatic community. The following table lists the adjectival and numeric grades:
| Regular Issues | ||
| MS 60-70 | Uncirculated | |
| AU 50, 53, 55, 58 | About Uncirculated | |
| XF 40, 45 | Extremely Fine | |
| VF 20, 25, 30, 35 | Very Fine | |
| F 12, 15 | Fine | |
| VG 8, 10 | Very Good | |
| G 4, 6 | Good | |
| AG 3 | About Good | |
| FR 2 | Fair | |
| PR 1 | Poor | |
Once the first grader has viewed all the notes in a particular box, that
box is then routed to the next grader and the process repeated. Only after
three or more graders have examined each note is its final grade determined. Occasionally the graders may confer with one another on a particular
note. When this happens, a consensus is ultimately reached which reflects
their collective experience as note experts.
Some notes fail to make the grade, so to speak. For example, notes which
have a corner missing, are stained or been damaged due to most any adverse
occurrence after leaving the BEP will be net graded. This means that instead
of no grading it, PMG will holder and authenticate it as a "Net Grade".
PMG will specifically state the reason(s) any note is net graded. The
PMG guarantee is not valid on any net graded note.




