Interesting video I saw over at the PCGS site. I wonder if it will be taken down soon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1N4PJ5Mtkwo guy
I doubt it'll be taken down since what David Hall related happened to be true. Of course, this was shot during the time that there was a lot of resistance to TPG's. More specifically, PCGS. It wasn't an easy road but they did set the standard and today are considered the best. Both in collector preference and in the market place. I expect that Ford was resistant since he didn't see the "need" to pay for someone's opinion since he felt confident in his own grading expertise. Given ultra rare cois, this would owrk out but, since PCGS backed their opinions with cash, it quickly became apparent that the PCGS grading coins brough "confident" dollars to the table nearly eliminating the questions surrounding authenticity and grade. Back in those days, lots of coins were urchased sight unseen over the teletype. Money was paid based upon grade and lots of arguments occured over grading opinions. PCGS served to quell those argumants based upon consensus grading by at least three qualified graders. I thought the video was very inciteful and am glad they posted it.
The date that video was taped was Aug. 9, 1989. Listen to what David Hall says and pay attention. Then compare the date of that video to the dates in the graph below. It was not a coincidence. It is also worth noting that almost exactly 1 year later after the date of that video, while the coin market was in free fall and headed for the basement, something else happened. It was not a coincidence either. Published: August 17, 1990 LEAD: The Federal Trade Commission filed a civil action and consent decree yesterday charging that Professional Coin Grading Service Inc. had made false and misleading advertising claims. The Federal Trade Commission filed a civil action and consent decree yesterday charging that Professional Coin Grading Service Inc. had made false and misleading advertising claims. The company, based in Newport Beach, Calif., grades and certifies rare coins, which are sealed in plastic packages and sold to collectors. Barry J. Cutler, director of the F.T.C. consumer protection bureau, said the company had been cited as a factor in stabilizing prices and increasing demand for coins in prospectuses issued by Merrill Lynch and other securities firms. The firms offer limited partnerships in multimillion-dollar funds that buy and sell coins. Without admitting liability, Professional Coin Grading agreed to submit its advertising to the F.T.C. for review over the next five years. In a filing in Federal district court in Washington, the company agreed to include statements in its newspaper and television advertising affirming that ''the rare coin market is a highly speculative, unregulated market and certification by P.C.G.S. does not guarantee protection against the normal risks associated with volatile markets.'' Basically the outcome of all this was that TPGs, coin dealers, and security companies, were forbidden from using words like "investment" in their advertising. They were also forbidden from extolling the virtues, the safety, the security, of coin collecting. And for years, that held true. It has only been in very recent years that previous events have been pushed aside and forgotten. And now we hear words like upside potential, investment, security, and safety, spoken all too often. Don't forget people - history has many things to teach us
