My compliments to Bill Fivaz for his Guest Commentary in the March 10 issue of Coin World. He hits the nail right on the head when he states that some high-end About Uncirculated coins can look much nicer than some low-end Mint State coins, and be priced accordingly. This is one reason why many years ago I told Bill that he could not take my American Numismatic Association Summer Seminar grading class as a student, because he was going to help me teach it!

That said, I must disagree with other people within the grading industry (not Bill) who claim that because these very nice coins with wear on them can be worth more than a hypothetical Mint State 60 coin of the same series with noticeable problems, those choice AU coins should be graded as MS-62 or whatever to reflect their price! A coin with wear on it is not a Mint State coin, and does not merit a Mint State grade!

Reform the pricing system if you must, but do not corrupt the grading system to do it.