What do you think of Collectors Universe in 2025?

Hey! Early Congrats. on the anniversary.
It's just that we've got bad spending habits from the past and have made a decision to hang on to the most important cards for emergency at home or on the road. No hard feelings?

 

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None at all. You're doing the right thing for (the two of) you, we hope we're doing the right thing for the two of us.

 

The degree of being critical in grading is quite serious by both NGC and PCGS, varying, generally being dependent upon coin series/facets-of-production. JMHO

 

Right here is the closest I've ever gotten to owning a coin the PCGS/CAC loyalists wouldn't scoff at on first glance.

It's part of a big lot from a seller on USA Coin Book with a lot of feedback, so hopefully the deal is legit. I'm not out too much if it's not, though. (yeah, someone needs to proofread this)


To be honest, I'm surprised that CU would even allow CAC discussion, seen as how stickers like a gold CAC can be twisted into a negative about PCGS.

 

The PCGS/CAC super value thing is so easy to scoff at in return. One of my largest purchases was a 1900-S 10c PCGS MS65 CAC at Heritage, and on the exact same day a 1900-S 10c NGC MS65 no CAC sold on GC for $330 more. So much for PCGS/CAC supremacy.

I'm curious what would happen if you posted this thread over on CU. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/1901-s-25c-another-quiz.384029/
A 1901-S 25c counterfeit that PCGS graded VG8. I bet you'd be banned and thread deleted.

 

PCGS was not happy about CAC at first. They don’t take kindly to those who question their grading, but they saw pretty quickly that CAC was around to stay. All of their initial opposition disappeared from the CU board.

 

I've seen cleaned coins in straight grade holders, but not actually a counterfeit. If PCGS is that poor with key dates, then I might just go NGC for this stuff. I doubt even SEGS would've holdered that quarter.

They probably wouldn't take kindly to me then. I don't hate PCGS but their grading can be really inconsistent.

The sad part is, collectors have more trust in them than the others, which is why you see people who don't like ICG, and even ANACS. ANACS is a pretty good grader from the coins of theirs I've dealt with; they just don't have the level of trust that PCGS does, and it is quite sad, especially on CU.

 

Agressively questioning a PCGS grade will get you kicked off CU faster than just about any other "offense." A number of really great numismatists, like Roger Burdette have gotten the boot over there.

 

It's quite sad, because doing that is literally committing legal modern-day Confucianism.

One person on the CU thread of this site back in 2012 said "when they're ready for the big leagues, send 'em over here" but if everything I'd one-sided, then that is not the big leagues. I've heard from some people who posted there that after being banned, it took multiple rings to get Don Willis on the phone, if that's the person who banned them, when sometimes they were banned for no reason.

But when they ban professional numismatists and paint a bad picture about them for their opinion, then that is way over the top. Over here, the same guy could post the thread, get tons of responses, and not be banned.

 

A fellow member of the banned club privately called them "Stalinist."

 

[QUOTE
But when they ban professional numismatists and paint a bad picture about them for their opinion, then that is way over the top. Over here, the same guy could post the thread, get tons of responses, and not be banned.[/QUOTE]

One of the main reasons I'm here. No attempts at character assassination, libel or slander just because someone asks hard, sometimes very necessary questions of things that need discussion. That's kind of the whole reason discussion boards such as this exist in the first place.

 

When Don Willis was an independent dealer, he was good person, and it was a pleasure to work with him. When PCGS hired him away to their president, which I assume was a huge increase income for him, he became an unpleasant person. He seemed to be the harshest of all of the PCGS attack dogs. One stayed as far away from him as possible. Ultimately he wore out his welcome there for whatever reason and was moved on.

 

CU never appreciated their coin forum or what a tremendous asset it was. There's an old expression, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" that they should have embraced. Of course they couldn't tolerate some of the diatribes against the company which were sometimes entirely baseless and unwarranted. They also couldn't tolerate the old "wild west" atmosphere that was present for many years. It's a shame it's come to this and I'm not certain there was an alternative but zero tolerance policies and disallowing a culture to exist are not conducive to the free exchange of ideas.

It's still a good chat board though. I doubt I'll spend as much time therein the future.

 

I believe Don was being told what to do and when to do it. I don't know who had that power over him.
He was kind to me when I was banned from CU. I just had to promise to behave and he let me back on the forums. Those were crazy times.

There was a double standard going on. Laura could post anything but little old me had to tow the line. To this day, I'm really careful with everything I post.

 

I haven't been to CU much in the past 5-6 years but I recall Laura and thinking, how does she get away with this? She is/was a really big player, Chicago perhaps? That kind of kid gloves treatment on the forum makes you wonder how impartial their grading is.

 

They sent me a private message which said, in essence, put her on ignore; we will not ban her. She posted stuff that broke many of their conduct standards.

 

Any chance it could be........... you? LOL, Stalinist may sound extreme but since I've never done anything but lurk there, I'll remember that one-worded description of yours.

Sounds like his ego got the best of him. I like how the moderators on here are just ordinary people, and them posting on a thread is often their opinion about the subject, but when you get moderators who are "attack dogs", that's when to watch out.

If anything, I'd post just like the mods on here - who, from their messages, seem to be really down-to-earth people.

I hate zero-tolerance policies for one reason - the people that create them often break those rules.
There are good people, though, on any forum, kinda why I like to post here.

Being told to act as a total jerk by the company you work for is a major disgrace. Especially if he was a nice person like @johnmilton said, that's what makes it sadder. That only shows you what level they're on, or are willing to stoop down to.

I do ask, though: who is this Laura you're taking about? I apologize in advance for being nosey, it's just that I've only did minor lurking on the CU forums.

"Big player" - they may think. The real big players are the ones brave enough to bring justice to a place of bias, the ones who live to tell the tale about their effort, and the ones who know to step away when the battle is not worth fighting. Sometimes on the forums, you can get unintentionally into a battle you never intended to enter.

That is just....... sad. It's sad that a company would be so low-down as to let someone break the rules in plain sight simply because of who they are.

 

It was not my description but I won't ID them. I take it to mean crushing all dissent and opposition through elimination. Obviously an exaggerated depiction since PCGS hasn't caused the deaths of millions of people. Someone more knowledgeable would have to detail the relationship between PCGS and Laura. It's been six years since I paid much attention to the CU stuff. By big player I meant a very large dealer. I think she was somehow affiliated with Legend.

 

That's very sad, and infuriating, that they'd treat someone associated with Legend as royalty. I'm pretty sure it'd give them an opposite look as to what they are going for, seen as how treating select people as royalty while throwing others in the dumpster can leave a lot of people mad on both sides.

 

There can be no justice when sentences exist before the crime. It is just another form of bullying designed not to eliminate problems in society but to eliminate problems for administrators. When Little Johnny says he's being bullied by Big Tony the principal just sends Johnny home because Tony will lie and deny it. Then they wonder why everyone is fed up. Johnny gets bullied from all sides just like we all do. Hit a pedestrian in the cross walk and go to jail even if he lunged in front of you or didn't so much as even glance before crossing the street.