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Topic: Grading

14th Oct 2022, 8:55 PM
	xiphophilos Member since Dec 2013 3351 Points Moderator	The youtube video is helpful but it talks about the Goldmine grading standards, and those were developed for vinyl records (LPs, 45rpm singles), not 78rpm shellacs. That is particularly clear in these much more detailed descriptions from the Goldmine Magazine itself. They spend quite a bit of time talking about covers, split seams, and similar features that are usually irrelevant when we talk about 78s: https://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/record-grading-101 In contrast, the grading system in Les Dock's American Premium Record Guide is designed for shellacs (quoted below without the frequent typos of the original): "New" or N: apparently unplayed and, of course, showing no signs of wear "Excellent" or "E": Showing only slight wear; playing surfaces still retain much of their original shine. Surface noise is minimal. "Very Good" or "V": Somewhat more worn than an "excellent" record, slight grayness appearing in the grooves, especially in louder passages. Still a fairly clean and acceptable copy. Surface and extraneous noise is noticeable, but does not overwhelm the music. "Good" or "G": A misnomer, a "good" record is really not so good. It shows considerable wear and usage, grayness in the grooves, random marks and light abrasions from an undoubted sleeveless existence. Surface noise is prominent enough to impair enjoyment of music. "Fair" or "F" and "Poor" or "P" indicate the lowest grades of the condition code. Since only the rarest records would be saleable in these grades, they appear infrequently. Kurt Nauck's auction catalogues use a similar grading scale, and so does the Venerable Music auction site here, except the latter scale tries to define all the in-between grades as well. All these grading systems leave space for subjectivity and error, of course: one person may think that the surface noise of a record is still acceptable (VG), when others find that it already impairs their ability to enjoy the music (G). Edited by xiphophilos on 14th Oct 2022, 9:04 PM