williamtipton

Not to be argumentative in the least, plaese dont take it that way..............but in the experience I had as stated in my previous post I bought 10 coins.............9 of them were horribly over-graded....

Like i said, im not a coin collector, i am a Book and Comic collector, so i do understand the even the slightest of imperfections afects the grade of an item.

If 1 or 2 coins out of 10 slipped, and recieved a slightly higher grade than it deserved, I could see that...........but 9 out of 10 being highly overgraded 1 or even 2 levels higher ..........I think thats not error in judgement........i think thats purposeful deception.


They way these folks have described this person on Ebay wouldnt surprise me in the least.

National dealer

Well the majority of people selling on Ebay are not dealers. They are there selling whatever they can. There are many third grading services out there. Not all are good. There are a handful that consistently overgrade coins. Unfortunately, most collectors realize this after the fact. They rush into buying coins, when they should be buying books. If you take a stroll through the coins available on these auction sites, you will see that the majority of these coins are from lower grading services. The sellers are preying on the people who think that they can get good deals. They see some grading services' MS-65 coins selling for way below retail and think they are going to get rich quick. Then after purchasing these coins, they find that the four major services won't even grade the coin because it was cleaned or whizzed, or altered in some way, and now they own a coin that they will basically have to give away at a substantial loss.
Like any collectible market, knowledge is what separates most people.

That is one reason that I joined this forum in particular. The people here are truly attempting to pass along useful information. Not for fame or fortune, but for the simple pleasure of helping others learn about this wonderful hobby.

Ed Zak

I found this site...pretty interesting as I could figure out who is doing well and who is not doing so well. Does anybody put stock in these rankings?

http://www.greysheet.com/cdn/cdnccmi.asp

rbm86

Hey, QUEENKOIN, nice post. Your are an inspiration to us all. By the way, did you get your 43 Walker back from PCGS yet?

Also, I like that you use the term "winged liberty" dime instead of "mercury". Our nation never intended to put a Roman god on our coinage, so I will always call them "winged liberty" dimes from now on.

Stujoe

Here is another article on coin grading services:

http://rg.ancients.info/guide/slabs.html

--
Stujoe

davidh

Wow! This one's hard to believe:

__________________
Type Set 64/129

williamtipton

Im kinda new to the coin thing.
I started like buying some cheaper stuff and am feeling like the old German States stuff with a little bit of colonial US, and just about anything G.B.,Ireland and France from the 1500s to the early 1700s.

Well, i went to a big coin company in columbus ohio and bought few nice coins.....
well, Im probly not as forgiving as some, but when i started looking at the coins i noticed that even withm my untrianed eye that they had been very generous in their grading.

What i would call a good coin at the very best, they were calling fine or better.
They didnt exactly over charge me or anything and im not raelly into buying perfect coins.......I really only am interested in the historical value..........but I just think it odd that a rookie could see the imperfections in these coins and be a little more critical of their condition than this company whos been in business for 40 years.

It makes me kinda see the point in the post above.

I think these folks overgrade in hopes that rookes will think theyre getting something worth buying........escpecially since when i bought these coins they WANTED me to go back home and order them online instead with NO photos......only thier listed grades....

seems theres lots of deception going on ........

National dealer

Well at least you have learned a valuable lesson.

Leaning is always a work in progress.

National dealer

SEGS does not get the highest rating either. Everyone agrees on the top four.

NGC
PCGS
ANACS
IGC

If you stick to these four, you will be better off.

jeff

yes, and that astounds me. If you look at who SEGS is made up of -they are all "experts" and researchers -not former dealers or child hood hobbiest -not that there is any downside to the latter -but for the sake of comparing expertise to expertise. Each mentioned has merit, but I just find it perplexing that the "research guys" are not held in as high esteem as the top graders? I mean these guys write books on the coins they grade! They make variety discoveries and respected "type" designations ie VAM. Its interesting that in the business world, if you are a degreed, published engineeer per say -you are one respected dude compared to the mechanic who actually builds and understands the mechanicals -yet in the hobbie world, its the boyhood collector turned grader that holds the respect in grading?

By the way, I dont own any SEGS graded coins -just an observation from time spent pouring over the graders web sites.

QUEENKOIN

I don't agree with this top 4......

ICG is I think what is mean't here........

I will agree with checking their stuff out, but one must really know thier series and how to grade in order to find those that may cross......

I see a big gap between then and PCGs and NGC....

With that said I have found some wonderful GEMs here.....
But on average, you better know what your looking for...

National dealer

We all know this. The point was that the top four need to be used if buying slabs.

QUEENKOIN

I typed out a long response and thought better of it in this day and age of lawsuits.....


New collectors, stick with PCGs and NGC, and ANACs if the price is right.

As you develope your grading eye, then look for bargains in some of the other companys slabs....

National dealer

Jeff,

I understand your logic. The people in this industry that grew up with coins are held in high esteem because of their knowledge. A perfect example is Q. David Bowers. This gentleman has spent 50 years in the hobby, wrote many books, and owned a few of the biggest firms the hobby has ever known. While not a grader, I would buy from Mr. Bowers sight unseen any day.
He is one of a very select few that have had a major impact on the hobby.
Graders are doing a job. The researchers are the ones that give the graders the knowledge of what to look for in grading. They are the backbone of grading. Research is what numismatics is all about. That is why most are held in such regard. Understanding the facets of coinage is a bit tougher than grading in general.
I hope that makes sense.

warman

Just based on the current market regardless of grading company favorites, I would buy certain NGC graded coins and cross them over to PCGS and sell them. The PCGS coins often sell for multiple times the price. For example, look at going prices for Proof Silver American Eagles.