Where the 70-point scale came from
Dr. William Sheldon introduced the scale in his 1949 book Early American Cents, a study of United States large cents. His original idea was a price formula: a cent in basal state 1 was worth a base amount, and a perfect 70 was worth seventy times that amount.
The price relationship broke down almost immediately, but the numbers stuck. The American Numismatic Association adopted a refined version in the 1970s, and when PCGS and NGC launched in 1986 and 1987, the Sheldon scale became the universal language of coin condition.
The circulated grades: 1 to 58
Circulated grades describe how much of the original design survives after wear. Adjectival names pair with numbers, and only certain numbers are used — you will see VF-30 but never VF-32.
- P-1 (Poor): identifiable by type and little else
- FR-2 (Fair): heavily worn, some detail beyond the outline
- AG-3 (About Good): rims worn into the lettering
- G-4/G-6 (Good): full rims, design in bold outline
- VG-8/VG-10 (Very Good): major features clear but flat
- F-12/F-15 (Fine): even moderate wear, all letters sharp
- VF-20 to VF-35 (Very Fine): wear confined to high points
- EF/XF-40 and 45 (Extremely Fine): light high-point wear, some luster
- AU-50 to AU-58 (About Uncirculated): trace wear, most luster present
Mint State: 60 to 70
Mint State coins have no wear at all, so the eleven grades from MS-60 to MS-70 rank them by contact marks, luster quality, strike sharpness, and eye appeal. An MS-60 may be baggy and lackluster; an MS-65 (gem) is attractive with only minor marks; an MS-70 is perfect under 5x magnification.
For modern coins, a single grade point can mean an enormous price difference because populations concentrate at the top. Proof coins use the same numbers with a PF or PR prefix, since proof is a method of manufacture rather than a grade.
Get a Sheldon-scale estimate from your phone
CoinVault Pro applies this same 1-to-70 language automatically: photograph any coin and the app’s AI (Gemini AI paired with Coin-CLIP image matching) identifies it and produces a Sheldon-scale grade estimate, then pairs the grade with live values from Numista data and real eBay sold prices.
It will not replace a professional holder for a valuable coin, but it is an excellent way to learn the scale by testing your own grade guesses against the app’s estimate.