To Grade or not to Grade! #3 10 Lire 1942

A very rare Vatican coin only 4000 mintage. I'm thinking of having it graded, do you think it's worth it?
What would YOU grade this coin?
Thanks in advance!
Loruca

XF, looks to be a little wear on the reverse, or may just be a weak strike because the obverse looks pretty good

Quote: "neilithicman"​XF, looks to be a little wear on the reverse, or may just be a weak strike because the obverse looks pretty good

​I think the patina is playing tricks. I hate the idea of dipping coins, but this dark (splotchy)toned patina really doesn't bring the details out. I can assure you, it has no reverse wear at all.
Thanks!

Well if it has no wear then why bother asking for opinions on grades? It's automatically either AU or UNC depending on luster.

Quote: "neilithicman"​Well if it has no wear then why bother asking for opinions on grades? It's automatically either AU or UNC depending on luster.

​Well, it all goes with the idea of grading I guess, in America, a 1 grade difference between MS 65- MS66 triples the price of a coin! Now, It's hard to do that sort of grading through pictures, but I was looking for a "within three Sheldon point" type grading!
I personally don't care for my own collection but as these three coins are probably going to be sold, I suddenly do!
Loruca

I never knew the 1942-46 issues were so low-mintage.... and just as I was planning on starting a Vatican collection, too.

Anyway if you want that sort of precision Sheldon scale grading a coin forum where we can't examine your coin in person, and in hand is probably not the best place to do it.

Sorry. Not very rare or even rare. Perhaps scarce. But not rare.

Quote: "Oklahoman"​Sorry. Not very rare or even rare. Perhaps scarce. But not rare.

​Gosh!
If 4000 mintage on a 1940's coin doesn't fall into the umbrella term of "rare" in MS condition... I don't know what does.
By this I don't mean it's impossible to find, but it certainly isn't common unless you're looking to get ripped off!
I should also add, that until the arrival of this coin in my collection, the Numista picture was blank.

One reason we dont put "rare" next to dates on Numista is because few people use the term correctly. Google some numismatic rarity scales and you will see. A coin with a mintage in the low hundreds might be considered rare. But a coin with a mintage in the thousands is not a rare coin. I would give you scarcity based on condition...

It in no way diminishes the beauty or desirability of this coin. Italian coinage of the 20th century is breathtaking in its beauty.

Quote: "Oklahoman"​It in no way diminishes the beauty or desirability of this coin. Italian coinage of the 20th century is breathtaking in its beauty.

​Far from it!
It's however quite an interesting question what the term "rare" really denotes, for example, it is common practice in Italian catalogues to denote rarity on a scale of Common to Rare-5, in sequential order of superlatives with respect to how easily a coin can be found:
Comune, non commune, raro, molto raro, rarissimo, unico.
This coin in my Gigante is denoted as R-2 Very Rare.
In the age of the internet, this doesn't mean what it used to, but in the 1980's, you would have to go through many a coin seller's inventory before you found one of them.
Rarity is conditional to culture.