What is the relationship between eye appeal and value? Eye appeal plus scarcity equal the true value of your numismatic cabinet.

Eye appeal is defined as the overall appearance of a coin, determined by a combination of strike, lustre and presence or absence of surface blemishes.

Eye appeal judges a coin within its issue and grade. I devised The Eye Appeal Grade© for certified coins to help the collector understand how coins fit into the spectrum of possibilities within their issue and grade.

The Steve Estes Eye Appeal Grade©

The Eye Appeal Grade is a scale from 1 to 10 (1 is lowest, 10 is highest) and represents Steve's professional opinion of a coin's relationship to an average coin within the technical grade. An average coin would be eye appeal 5. It is important to note all grading -- even by third-party services -- is subjective opinion. It is in the collector's best interest to gain knowledge and experience to formulate his/her own opinion concerning grading coins.

IMPORTANT NOTE:   Neither grading nor eye appeal is an exact science. One may find slight variations between two coins at eye appeal 8 (or lower), especially when comparing eye appeal within different issues. However, you will find my application of eye appeal to be very consistent, enabling you to build a finely matched set or group of coins.

Herein lies the key -- the sum of its parts make the whole of a stunning and valuable numismatic cabinet.

Related Topics

• Lustre
• Eye Appeal Within The Technical Grade