" Charlton catalogue will be pricing Bank of Canada notes with three prices for Unc. (UNC-60, UNC-63 and UNC-65) in the next edition. Once this realization takes hold, premiums will increase for Gem notes. "
The rumoured UNC-60, UNC-63 & UNC-65 approach by Charlton would be a satisfactory solution to a difficult problem. Unfortunately though, assuming that UNC-65 is the maximum grade permitted on the Charlton scale (i.e., total absolute perfection), then that would create additional confusion since the American TPG companies go all the way up to UNC-70. At least with coins there is consistency on both sides of the US/Canada border since the Canadian TPG company ICCS goes all the way up to UNC-70 as do its American counterparts.
Notwithstanding my comments above, I do personally prefer the simpler approach with only 5 (rather than 10) points separating a "Gem Perfection UNC" from a "Basic UNC" because I'm not convinced that it's possible to grade on a consistent basis when there's a 10 point difference. Presumably a conversion scale would have to be developed between PMG and Charlton grading, e.g.
Charlton UNC-65 = PMG UNC-70 (Gem Perfection UNC)
Charlton UNC-63 = PMG UNC-65 (Choice UNC)
Charlton UNC-60 = PMG UNC-63 (Basic UNC)
Charlton AU = PMG-60 (??)
We already know from a fairly wide pool of hands-on visual evidence that PMG grades are about half a grade higher than the equivalent Charlton grades throughout the entire grading spectrum (VG to Gem UNC) and half a grade is roughly equivalent to 5 points on the numerical PMG scale.
Confusing or not, a perfect UNC note is a perfect UNC note and there should be no ambiguity whatsoever about that. The perennial problem, of course, is that when buying such a note at a show or online you can't really verify that it's 100% flawless UNC if it's permanently encapsulated in plastic. Personally speaking, I'd rather make up my own mind about that than to allow a TPG company to make the decision for me. This is not such a problem for the lower grades (VG-EF) because the defects associated with lower-grade notes are usually clearly visible through the encapsulating plastic.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2007, 04:55:34 am by Ottawa »
Logged
" Buy the very best notes that you can afford and keep them for at least 10 years. " (Richard D. Lockwood, private communication, 1978).