Finest Known. A specimen of such superior condition that all others of the same variety are of lesser condition. Grading services can easily provided the documentation for calling any specimen “finest known” as they retain records of all such specimens they grade. When arranged in an array, the first listed item is obviously the best condition known. The term may have been first used by numismatic cataloger Walter Breen, who felt confident in using the term because of the vast number of similar items he had seen. It would have been more accurate, however, for him to state “the finest he had observed” in his numismatic activities.