Grading Standards

This document outlines the grading standards strictly enforced across this site and offers a comparison between British and American coin grading.

All coins on this site are covered by the no quibble refund policy and all coins are sent by Chris Perkins unless otherwise arranged. If you are not sure about a grade or require further explanation on any of the grading practices used on this site, or wish to see a picture of a coin not illustrated please email.

The coins on this site have been strictly and conservatively graded, mostly by myself (Chris Perkins) or one of my highly qualified associates. In the last 12 years well over 5000 British coins have been sold through predecimal.com and on average less than 1 coin per thousand is returned! As a collector myself, I believe in strict accurate grading and have gained a reputation for my grading skill.

When looking at the coin grades shown on this site please remember:

If just one grade is shown e.g 'VF' it is a 'VF' using the British grading system.

In some cases you may see two grades, e.g GEF(AU50). The first grade will always be the British grade and the second in the American format.

If you see a coin grade with a number at the end, e.g 'VF30', although that is strictly speaking a US grade I have not needed to change it because a 'VF30' is the same as a British 'VF', so the 'VF' part applies to the British grade and the whole thing 'VF30' or just the '30' is the US grade. If the US grade was 'VF35' I have changed this to 'GVF35' so the 'GVF' part is the British grade and the '35' part refers to the US 1-70 numbered system.

After extensive research I have been able to create a chart showing the UK and US grade comparisons. It is by no means 100% accurate to the single American point but it will give you a very good idea if you see a coin and wonder exactly what the US grading number translates to. Please don't forget that should you ever receive a coin you consider overgraded it can be returned for a full refund.

British GradeUSA 70 point equivalentNotes
PoorP1 
FairF2 
About GoodAG3 
GoodG4 - G7 
Very Good - About FineVG8 - VG11 
FineF12 - F14 
Fine+ to Good FineF15 - F19 
About Very FineVF20 - VF24 
Very FineVF25 - VF30 
Very Fine +VF31 - VF34 
Good Very Fine - About Extremely FineVF35 - VF39 
Extremely FineEF40 - EF44Sometimes called 'XF40' not 'EF40'
Extremely Fine +EF45 - EF49Sometimes called 'XF45' not 'EF45'
Good Extremely FineAU50 - AU54The lower American 'About Uncirculated' (AU) grades are allowed to have a little wear so this prevents them being a British AUNC.
Good Extremely Fine +AU55 - AU57
About UncirculatedAU58 - AU59
UncirculatedMS60 - MS62 
Select/Choice UncirculatedMS63 - MS64 
About Brilliant UncirculatedMS65 - MS66 
Brilliant UncirculatedMS67 - MS69Usually full lustre
FDCMS70Unobtainable with mass produced coins.
ProofProofNot a grade of course, but a specially stuck coin using special dies etc.