mikenoodle

Doug made an excellent point about TPG graded coins in another thread and rather than hi-jack that thread, I decided to take the thoughts he gave me on that subject and start a new thread.

Here is my premise:

A buyer grades a raw coin and purchases it. He then submits it for grading. When the coin doesn't receive the grade he expects he cracks it out and re-submits it until either: he is convinced that he was wrong, or the TPG gives his coin the higher grade.

The thing is that this also happens with the already slabbed coins. Buyers look for coins that they believe are under-graded, crack them out and re-submit them until they receive the same result.

A more recent phenomenon is the CAC sticker telling you their opinion on whether or not the TPG was correct (a grader grading a grader) when the person grading it all along has to be the buyer.

As we work this to it's logical conclusion if all coins finally end up slabbed with grades, the eventuality is that a majority if not all of the coins will end up being over-graded rather than correctly graded. So once again, people will turn to a new verifier of grades and the cycle will continue to spiral.

The only way to not get caught up in this cycle is to learn to grade for yourself. You shouldn't take or worse yet need someone else's opinion to tell you what the grade is, educate yourself so that you can grade it accurately save yourself the time and money of TPGs and stop worrying about what someone else says about your coin.

That way you can enjoy it instead of needing constant validation on your purchase. This is a hobby, not a game, and although it can be a business it is certainly not an investment. Hobbies are to be enjoyed, but if you are constantly worrying about the price that you paid, when can you enjoy them?

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