Part Three - William Sheldon's 70-Point Scale (1949) 'MS 65' is Born

In his 1949 book Early American Cents (later republished as Penny Whimsy) Dr. William Sheldon undertook the first comprehensive discussion of coin grading in the section entitled "Towards a Science of Cent Values." He presented a thorough discussion of the relationship between a coin's condition and its market value, and provided a numerical scale to quantify that relationship.

Using ten adjectival grades, Basal State (Poor), Fair, Very Fair, Good, Very Good, Fine, Very Fine, Extremely Fine, About Uncirculated and Mint State, he assigned numbers to the grades that corresponded to the market value (in dollars) of a common-variety 1794 cent at the time of publication. In other words, a Poor 1794 cent in 1949 was worth about $1.00, a VF was worth in the $20 to $30 range, and a Mint State example was worth somewhere in the $60 to $70 range.

By varying the Basal value and applying various multipliers relating to the condition census, Sheldon attempted to encompass the pricing of all varieties of large cents. Unfortunately, this intricate system broke down for two reasons. One was the complexity of applying the many rules regarding determining the multiplier, especially with the condition census either unknown or constantly changing. Second was the changing preference of the market, which over the years has consistently placed an ever-increasing premium on the highest-grade coins. Whereas the finest-known 1794 cents may have been worth roughly 70 times the worst ones in 1949, by the 1970s that premium was several hundred times. A quarter century later, the premium was several thousand times.

What did survive however, was Sheldon's scientific and analytical approach toward grading, and his numerical scale. It would take about 25 years before this scale gained use beyond the small circle of large cent collectors, but it would eventually provide the framework for modern-day U.S. coin grading.