Rarity & grade of your collectible
Often do I find objects on the internet and auctions and to 'boost' the sales they are marked as 'rare', 'scarce', 'very scarce', 'extremely scarce', 'Not in RPC', 'Not in RIC'. etc., etc.
For the help in classification of rarity in Roman coins do we have the RIC and also the RPC, acsearch and coinarchive are often used as reference as well.
Found some of the list under on the internet, there appear to be so many different scales, it's a bit like the Scandinavian Gradation for coins:
In the Scandinavian Gradation for coins the 1 stands for TB, the 01 for SUP, the 1+ for TTB and the 0 for SPL and the 0 for FDC as well. What is the 0-01 gradation is Scandic gradation? Well very logic that is is between TTB and SPL?
Last days did I attend a Spanish auction (Madrid area), in the North west of Spain (in Catalonia do they use often French gradation, in the rest of Spain often Spanish gradation). The web-auction had a translation to English as well, propably they took some 'English inventory' and descriptions as well where coins grades as B/TB where auctioned as TTB. There is a major difference in quality and corresponding price, unfortunately is upselling by skipping 1 or 2 grades to a grade which is not corresponding with the quality not an exception in the Spanish Numismatic world, they are not alone, for example in the UK did I notice something similar.
The CRUX of this post is that it's a matter of keeping your eyes open and check the references incase of doubt, this especially the case when you attend a 'foreign' auction with a different system.
Some strange Spanish translations:
MBC+ was translated to F? This should have been VF+ which is higher.
EBC- was translated to XF? This should have been XF-
| Adjective | Design remaining | United Kingdom |
France | Spain | Italy | German-speaking | Scandinavia | Netherlands | Portugal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good (G-4) | 10% | G | AB (Assez Beau) | RC | M | GE (Gut erhalten) | 2 | G (Goed) | REG |
| Very Good (VG-8) | 25% | VG | B (Beau) | BC | B (Bello) | SGE (Sehr gut erhalten) | 1- | ZG (Zeer Goed) | MREG |
| Fine (F-12) | 50% | F | TB (Très Beau) | BC+ | MB (Molto Bello) | S (Schön) | 1 | Fr (Fraai) | BC |
| Very Fine (VF-20) | 75% | VF | TTB (Très Très Beau) | MBC | BB (Bellissimo) | SS (Sehr schön) | 1+ | ZF (Zeer Fraai) | MBC |
| Extremely Fine (EF-40, or XF-40) | 90% | EF/XF | SUP (Superbe) | EBC | SPL (Splendido) | VZ (Vorzüglich) | 01 | Pr. (Prachtig) | Bela |
| About Uncirculated (AU-50) | 95% + some luster | UNC | No use | No use | MSPL (MoltoSplendido) | UNZ− (Fast unzirkuliert) | 0-01 | No use | No use |
| Mint State (MS-60 to 64) | 100% + luster | BU | SPL (Splendide) | SC | SPL/FDC | UNZ (Unzirkuliert) | 0 | FDC (Fleur de Coin) | Soberba |
| Mint State (MS-65 to 70) | 100% + full luster | FDC | FDC (Fleur de Coin) | FDC | FDC (Fior di Conio) | STGL (Stempelglanz) | 0 | FDC | FDC (Flor de Cunho) |
GEORGE FULD RARITY SCALE FOR TOKEN COINS
RARITY ESTIMATED NUMBER IN EXISTENCE
R - 1 Greater than 5000 (Relatively Common)
R - 2 2001 to 5000
R - 3 501 to 2000
R - 4 201 to 500
R - 5 76 to 200
R - 6 21 to 75
R - 7 11 to 20
R - 8 5 to 10
R - 9 2 to 4
R - 10 1 Only
The Sheldon Scale
R-1 Common
R-2 Not So Common
R-3 Scarce
R-4 Very Scarce (population est at 76-200)
R-5 Rare (31-75)
R-6 Very Rare (13-30)
R-7 Extremely rare (4-12)
R-8 Unique or Nearly So (1,2 or 3)
The Universal Rarity Scale by Q. David Bowers
URS-0 None known
URS-1 1 known, unique
URS-2 2 known
URS-3 3 or 4 known
URS-4 5 to 8 known
URS-5 9 to 16 known
URS-6 17 to 32 known
URS-7 33 to 64 known
URS-8 65 to 125 known
URS-9 126 to 250 known
URS-10 251 to 500 known
URS-11 501 to 1,000 known
URS-12 1,001 to 2,000 known
URS-13 2,001 to 4,000 known
URS-14 4,001 to 8,000 known
URS-15 8,001 to 16,000 known
URS-16 16,001 to 32,000 known
URS-17 32,001 to 65,000 known
URS-18 65,001 to 125,000 known
URS-19 125,001 to 250,000 known
URS-20 250,001 to 500,000 known
From the degrees of Rarity as defined in Scholten in Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories
Scholten Description
C Common
N Normal
S Scarce
R Rare
RR Very Rare
RRR Extremely Rare
RRRR Of the utmost rarity
Michael Marsh in his book The Gold Sovereign expands the last rarity.
Marsh Description
R4 15 to 25 examples known
R5 9 to 14 examples known
R6 4 to 8 examples known
R7 Highest rarity known
Andrew Pollock in his book US Patterns uses the rarity as,
Marsh Description
R1 over 1250 examples known
R2 500 to 1250 examples known
R3 201 to 500 examples known
R4 76 to 200 examples known
R5 31 to 75 examples known
R6 13 to 30 examples known
R7 4 to 12 Highest rarity known
R8 2 or 3 examples known
Overton (and bust half collectors as a whole) use the Sheldon Rarity System where:
R1 is common (1000+ pieces known)
R2 is Slightly uncommon (501-1000 pieces known)
R3 is Scarce (201-500 pieces known)
R4 is Very Scarce (81-200 pieces known)
R5 is Rare (31-80 pieces known)
R6 is Very Rare (13-30 pieces known)
R7 is Extremely Rare (4-12 pieces known)
R8 is Unique or nearly so (1-3 pieces known)
English Rarity Scale - from The English Silver Coinage from 1649 by Seaby & Rayner.
R7 - only 1 or 2 examples known
R6 - 3 - 4
R5 - 5 - 10
R4 - 11 - 20
R3 - Extremely Rare
R2 - Very Rare
R - Rare
S - Scarce
N - Normal, neither scarce nor common
C - Common
C2 - Very Common
C3 - Extremely Common
Hard Times tokens rarity scale
R1 - common
R2 - less common
R3 - Scarce
R4 - estimated 76-200 specimens survive
R5 - estimated 31-75 specimens survive
R6 - estimated 13-30 specimens survive
R7 - estimated 4-12 specimens survive
R8 - estimated 2 or 3 specimens survive
R9 - Unique (only one known)
