Please do not grade orders and medals.
Grading can be applied to things made for collectors. I lost interest in stamps and coins because of grading and the quest for perfection, ultilized by governments to sell mint coins above face value and mint stamps without any service rendered.
I love orders and medals because they are not made for collectors. I hate mint orders or medals that come right from the factory. Medals must have persons behind them, must have been worn and show signs of wear. Unfortunately, I cannot say that more wear is better because it is easy to degrade orders and metals intentionally. But even a damaged award should not lose its value because damage happens to things that are exposed to daily activity and are even worn into battle. (I love the Lenin State History Museum for the fact that they show in their Treasury Catalog on page 78 a OPW 1st Class with enamel completely missing on one of the five rays of the red star.)
I see the grading of coins as tool of dealers to increase their profit: buy as a lower and sell later as a higher grade. Grading is a subjective judgment with all its disadvantages.
The highest quality of an order or medal should be "moderate wear". A lower rank should be "mint". Otherwise the condition can be described by the terms suggested by Alexei. But please don't call it grading!
Grading can be applied to things made for collectors. I lost interest in stamps and coins because of grading and the quest for perfection, ultilized by governments to sell mint coins above face value and mint stamps without any service rendered.
I love orders and medals because they are not made for collectors. I hate mint orders or medals that come right from the factory. Medals must have persons behind them, must have been worn and show signs of wear. Unfortunately, I cannot say that more wear is better because it is easy to degrade orders and metals intentionally. But even a damaged award should not lose its value because damage happens to things that are exposed to daily activity and are even worn into battle. (I love the Lenin State History Museum for the fact that they show in their Treasury Catalog on page 78 a OPW 1st Class with enamel completely missing on one of the five rays of the red star.)
I see the grading of coins as tool of dealers to increase their profit: buy as a lower and sell later as a higher grade. Grading is a subjective judgment with all its disadvantages.
The highest quality of an order or medal should be "moderate wear". A lower rank should be "mint". Otherwise the condition can be described by the terms suggested by Alexei. But please don't call it grading!
Dietrich
