Here we go . It seems the coin collecting community will now have Second Party Grading Services . Michael Ellis and Stephan Morrill on December 20, 2010 have joined forces to establish this New Hampshire company , with the intent of filling the gaps of CAC .http://secondpartygrading.com/About-SPG.html
It's called Second Party Grading Company . Supposedly, they have established the company to fill a niche that CAC does not offer, regarding Variety attribution .
I did notice this... I once saw an article that told you what NOT to do when making a site, and it looks like they broke every rule in that article.
If they are already of the opinion that there are few accurate graded coins in the market place today, it will be curious to see what they conclude of those submitted to them.
They already have. TPG after all stands for Third Party Grader. So CAC and now SPG are the fourth party.
I'll inaugurate the Fifth Party Grader (FPG) service. I'll call it "Whoa, Dude" grading. You send me your already TPG graded coin and $5, and I'll send it back with a certificate that reads "Whoa, Dude. Gnarly Coin". I predict it will catch on with collectors who used to be surfer dudes and/or potheads. After all, even idiots inherit.
I find it interesting that they are specializing in moderns, seems like they are limiting themselves a bit.
I think they put little effort into the initial startup website , so they could get the business rolling before the end of the year. I totally agree with the remarks made. That aside, I hardly think they will draw sufficient business to be around very long , but than again what the heck do I know.
Fun Someone on another board claiming to be set up with Mike Ellis at table 126 at FUN claims they sent over 100 coins to PCGS and PCGS cleaned and heavily hairlined 60 of them but slabbed them MS66 anyway. The person claims these will be available for viewing at his table, and people should slug it out with David Hall just a couple of tables over. The person writes with the style "PCGS should not of slabbed these cause there hair lined when I looped them." Smells like a troll post to smear PCGS and sabotage Ellis's credibility.
By that they mean literally filling those annoying gaps on the slab where one's coin might actually be seen. Who wants to look at a pesky coin when you can see 18 bright, wonderful, meaningless stickers?! Guy