Editor's Q & A

Rick Montgomery
President, Numismatic Guaranty Corp., Sarasota, Fla.

Rick is a top rare coin grader and authenticator. He was formerly president of Professional Coin Grading Service and, before that, graded at the American Numismatic Association Certification Service (now ANACS).

Rick is one of a handful of rare coin graders who shape the industry. He taught me how to look at coins and has mentored and trained a generation of rare coin graders. Here are his pointers for building one’s grading skills and how he uses magnification.

Q: When did you decide to make coins your career?
A: I started collecting coins out of circulation when I was 7 or 8, filling Lincoln Cent and Jefferson nickel boards. After going to the ANA Summer Seminar in 1980, I opted to work for ANACS that September rather than pursue college and stayed at ANACS until 1987. Numismatics offers people the chance to convert a hobby into a rewarding career and there are a lot more career opportunities in coins than one might initially expect. You can be a grader, a dealer, a writer, a marketer, an auctioneer, and so on.

Q: How do you help new coin graders?
A: The best thing is constant feedback based on the questions they might ask and to show coins that they may have graded beforehand. This back and forth and explanations provides the honing that each of us are looking for in the decision-making part of grading.

Q: What’s something a collector should know about grading coins?
A: The most important element is to keep everything consistent. There should be the same lighting, the same magnification and the same work environment. At NGC, this means a dark room with a lamp. Of course, it’s vital to look at as many coins as you possibly can. I prefer a 75 watt incandescent bulb in a standard swing arm lamp.

Q: How do you use magnification?
A: Most grading is done at the naked eye level as using too much magnification can negatively distort the interpretation of the grade and make small things on the coin seem worse than they are in the scope of the size of the coin. Identifying any problem is important. Incorporating that into the overall coin’s appearance is the true skill of assessing a grade. My ready is always a Bausch and Lomb 7X Hastings triplet magnifier and I use magnification for confirming varieties. I have more powerful loupes for difficult authentication purposes and have a Nikon stereoscope for the most challenging pieces.

Q: Do you collect anything?
A: I collect Roman Egyptian tetradrachms from the Alexandrian Mint. I primarily grade U.S. and world coins so collecting these allowed me to expand the scope of my numismatic interests.

Q: After examining millions of coins in your career, do you ever find coin grading boring?
A: No. If I did, I wouldn’t have done it for the past 34 years! I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to have graded so many extraordinary coins and collections including Bass, Eliasberg, Millennia, Newman, Garrett, all five 1913 Liberty Head 5-cent pieces and several 1804 Draped Bust dollars.

This article was originally published January 5, 2015 in Coin World magazine.