TPG'S. What A Joke.

It's worth it if the coin is like > 500 USD and you want to sell it. It's also nice not to worry about buying "UNC" coins and then having to return them, seeing hairlines. Ive had a few bed experiences with eBay where lighting hid a probem coin that was posted as "problem free."

Hairlines all going in the same direction is a problem (and no, not die lines).

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

thanks. I love you back

 

That was the booze talkin'. Sorry about that..........

 

Sometimes - not always. I bought a Edinburgh minted crown from Queen Anne's reign once and it was in a holder that had it graded at VF-30 in an NGC holder. I pointed out to the seller that the coin was grossly over-graded and that I would buy it at a raw fine price and did get the coin.

The point is - as inaccurate and subjective as TPG grading can be for USA coins, it gets a lot more grey with foreign coins. I believe that most of the hammered and early machine struck coinage from Britain is over-graded in TPG holders. I also fervently believe that grading can be variable as far as who the submitter is - ie me vs. some big conglomerated auction house.

 

Reminds me of a really good Lonestar song: Tequila Talkin'

 

I understand your point with the Queen Anne graded VF-30. I know I was painting with a broad brush and that exceptions exist. I also agree that grading is subjective. I always view the coin and make decisions from there; however, having a stated grade on a slab certainly helps narrow the discussion.
I've heard other people make this statement as well (in bold above). I don't have any evidence to support or deny that statement. That being said, my experience in the business world leads me to believe this is more true than not.[/QUOTE]

 

Yeah I agree. I thought it was rude and condescending. I collect slabs and raw. I love it all. I don't think anyone should or could say only real collectors opt for raw or vice versa. That's way off

 

I agree somewhat with your analogy. But that only goes so far. If you enjoy the selling part of coin collecting or just want to ensure better selling experiences, having a coin slab prevents the dealers out there a lot of times from going too low based on their supposed perception of a coin's condition. If I see a raw or slabbed coin out there with the same grade stated with the coin, the slabbed one is a better deal. First off, I don't have to pay the slabbing price; second, it's protected better; third, because of the reason about haggling I mentioned earlier;'fourth, i can register the slab and put it in an online inventory, compete etc, and so on. As you can see, being a "real" coin collector/enthusiast has nothing to do with this scenario. If anything, I'd argue that the real experienced collector would opt for the slab.

 

I`ve sent coins sealed in mint cello to NGC that have come back as "Cleaned" before! so who the hell knows.

 

One person sent in a sealed proof set and once and one came back as counterfeit!

That was back when they did bodybags and sometimes I suspect that when they were getting behind they just stared rejecting pieces out of hand to get caught up. After all they still got paid for it, and most of the time they knew that the coin would get sent in again and they would get paid for it a second time. They had nothing to lose.

 

I wonder how many of the "First Strike" Kennedies and the Baseball commems were so condemned?

 

okay, so let us in on the secret--

who was it?
[which TPG'er?]

 

No it wasn't. And if you think so you need to develop a thicker skin too........

 

You are just too tough, too rough and too manly for this crowd. It brings a tear of pride to my eye.

 

It has been long enough ago that I don't remember which, but it WAS either PCGS or NGC not one of the others.

 

I think a more appropriate word is biased. While I'm confident that graders at NGC and PCGS strive to be objective and suppress any biases they may have, they still grade based on opinion. Opinions by definition are subjective.

 

I collect ancients and all ancients have been cleaned. Also, any reputable dealer or auction house will refund my money if the coin is found to be a modern forgery (there are ancient counterfeits that are themselves collectible). Therefore TPGs neither add nor preserve value. If you want to be liberated from reliance on TPGs then ancients are the way to go.

 

I have two non us ancients. There will not be a third