Old Paramount graded slabs question

I'm sure a lot of people have a thing for their slabs for nostalgia reasons. Personally I am not a fan, too big and don't fit into the collection slots for my tastes. My question is how accurate their grading was? Lots of experienced experts here, would like their opinions on the latter.

 

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Never heard of them until now. I'd say no.

 

Paramount can be hit or miss. They were chosen to help sell the Redfield Hoard and would put the coins in slabs saying MS 65 or MS 60. Later they did Silver Dollars that weren't part of the hoard and a few more grades were added. NGC will grade the coin in the Paramount holder (put a strip around it, like they do for GSA holders). I've seen the MS 65 get anything from 62 to 66. Given that they originally only had 60 and 65 grades, it figures you will see a range. Unless the coin looks solid, I would not automatically assume it is a 65. The 60 grades might be safer (unless the coin happens to be a problem/details example).

 

Here are two examples I just found on eBay:

1) Paramount holder say 65 but NGC says 63



2) Paramount says 65 and NGC agrees

 

Not a very well known TPG big they did make a b m some for themselves. The grading may or may not be accurate but their slabs are collectible.

 

PCI was a legendary firm with David Akers, Paul Wittlin, etc. They imported tens of thousands of U.S. gold coins, including some of today's finest rarities.

 

What did you do then with a legit MS-63 ? Call it an MS-60 and be ultra-conservative or overgrade it as an MS-65 ?

I guess it depended on the firm, huh ?

 

What years did TPG slabbed grading really become a thing? Things have changed a lot in collecting the last 40 years.

 

1986 (PCGS) and 1987 (NGC). Years of start-up, and then a few years later the promise of "sight-unseen bids" helped lead to the 1989-90 Coin Bubble.

 

I have seen dealers list these below the grade on the holders and actually say the slab says like 65 but we grade in 63 or even 64. One dealer actually said these were typically over-graded.

 

Sounds very questionable to me but have always been strictly a PCGS guy

 

Looking at Paramount, they did some of both as you can find the MS 60 and the MS 65 slabs graded MS 63 by NGC. What did they intend to do? That is a question that we can only guess on. Being that they sold these coins, I would guess they would skew in their favor (i.e. call the 63 a 65 and not a 60).

 

I recall there used to only be UNC or BU. Perhaps this transformed into just 60 or 65 during the early years of numerical grading?

 

They could add AU56, 57 and 59 or the rest of the AU grades too. In my observation there are many in-between AU coins that they either bump up or down.

 

I’m guessing it would have depended not on the firm, but whether they were buying (at 60) or selling (at 65)…

 

Like many older slabs, I think these are cool as they help tell the story of the coin market and grading. I really like these not for the grade but for the time they represent.

 

Yeah....I see your point GD....but there are lots more coins that are of GRADING INTEREST and PURCHASE INTEREST between MS-60 and 65 than are between XF-40 and 45.

More coins....more VALUABLE coins....more people likely to submit with coins between the MS grades.

That's why I think "splitting" the grade is more relevant in the MS numbers than the EF numbers (or even the AU numbers).