While I used the term foreign in the title of this report, I prefer to call coins minted in another country by their specific name or to refer to them as world coins or coins of the world. As a German coin dealer once reminded me, what I was calling foreign was like home cookin’ to him.

Grading is measuring the present condition of a coin to a theoretically perfect example of the same piece. I used theoretical in the above statement because no perfect examples of many coins exist that could be used for comparison purposes. I could be a nitpicker and suggest that no perfect coins exist at all.

Some simple tips and techniques which even amateur photographers can use to obtain better results with minimal effort. Digital coin photography advice.

When it comes to coin cleaning there are about twenty different schools of thought, and every pupil seems to have a strong opinion. I expect that this report will stimulate lots of correspondence from those who don’t agree with my version of the “truth”

Few collectors seem to understand how anxious the auctioneer is to assist the buyers. Even fewer collectors take full advantage of the services the auction house can provide. Utilizing these services can often give you an advantage over the competition and make you a more efficient auction bidder.

Replicas, reproductions or copies can and should be perfectly acceptable, but there should be some clear and easy way to distinguish them from original genuine coins. There should also be a strict requirement on owners and vendors of such coins to ensure that any marketing of such coins is done in a very clear and unambiguous way.

In my opinion far too many of us THINK we know what we are doing when it comes to grading. And I'd be willing to bet that of all the people who read this - a number of them will think that statement includes everybody except them. Well, I'll be the first to admit that the best I can ever hope for is an educated guess - and I started collecting coins over 40 yrs ago.

The most frequently asked question that I receive is how to "clean" coins.