Controllers of the Numismatic Hobby

With regard to numerical grading, there is no right. Grading is subjective and always has been. This subjectivity actually works in the favor of the TPGs because people will continue to resubmit coins until they get the grade they want, or submit multiple times and give up. Either of those two scenarios puts more money in the pockets of the TPGs.

 

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Is it a crutch though if we are using all of the tools available to us? I completely agree that first group cannot be helped and imo that isn't the fault of the TPG either there is just a percentage of those types in society.

But the more interesting discussion to me is the person using it as a tool in their arsenal. We could grade a 100 coins, look at a thousand different coins and grade that first 100 again and would likely have several with different grades than the first time. In something that isn't an exact science more respected opinions seems like a positive.

In my opinion we should all use all the tools available to us (TPGs ect) but at the end of the day (as you mentioned) we need to decide on our own what we like. No one should let anyone else tell them what they like, if you are sinking a ton of money into coins I take that statement back lol. But I think most of us get the gist, and people that dislike TPGs and the game that is all well and good but at the end of the day if people are buying what they like isn't that the whole goal?

What if it is just a "want" or an assurance? I would like CAC to sticker all my coins as that extra seal of approval, but sometimes I just enjoy different things than they do and a coin I love will not sticker. We can certainly get caught up in the sticker no sticker slabbed vs raw ect very easily and often times we do, I think the key for all of us to remember is there is no right or wrong answer. We can't even agree on weather to grade with eye appeal or pure technical standpoint as a collecting community.

 

My assumption (though I have no direct knowledge of it) is that most generic Morgan dollars and other extremely common coins with very high population counts were disproportionately not submitted by collectors but by "investment" brokers and telemarketers.

 

Good post.

I agree that TPGs serve some purpose. It has improved liquidity which makes it easier to buy and sell which I otherwise would not have been able to do as easily since I almost never do so in person.

On the grading differences and price spreads, I don't believe it is just one point increments and it isn't just on the higher grades. One post below yours mentions its only or predominantly true on a 65 or 66 and above. Its a matter of opinion of course but I think it applies to much lower grades. Additionally, what makes this pricing structure for US coins even more ridiculous is that differences in MS grades are less noticeable than in (higher) circulated ones. The difference in (supposed) quality is frequently completely disproportionate to the price spread.

Then there is the price difference between "details" and "market acceptable" coins. In many instances, there really isn't anything wrong with a "details" coin and in my series, many of them look better than numerically graded coins but if you buy it ungraded and don't get it in a numerical holder, you're likely to be "buried" in it. I don't mind buying "details" coins if it looks decent, the price is "reasonable" and I know what I am buying. However, I have declined to buy coins on occasion I otherwise wouldn't mind owning because the cumulative financial hit adds up.

 

I prefer: "We have met the enemy and he is some of us."

 

I,ve been collecting for about 53years now. In the first years, the hobby kept me off the streets and was a fun way to spend idle time. Back then, if you were really lucky to find an honest Dealer, you felt successful. I kept collecting to a degree,but soon became very skeptical of many dealer,s tact, and I finally quit collecting.

When coin grading came to be, I felt less at risk of buying nice coins, and began collecting again. It took me years of experience to finally build trust in my own decisions and those of the graders. Although Graders often miss the grade, I,ve learned to use their mistakes to my advantage, I collect both raw and graded coins and there is a place for each in my collection. In these times, most collectors rely on graded coins for their own peace of mind, and that,s good for the hobby. I think a LOT of worthless stuff is in slabs and only worth the plastic tombs they are in, but on the other hand, I want my nice coins to be graded by the pros. Education is my best insurance against fraud and manipulation of the industry. If I buy a graded coin, I study its trends from several diff. sources, I give it my own grade, and then make my decision. If I,m being cheated by a dealer or a grader, I don,t buy it!

 

At the top of all hobbies is usually a business.
In order for people to improve at their wares there's studying, experimenting, what-not. And that all takes time, and thus money. People still have to feed their families at the end of the day. Thus the business a top of the industry.

I have a nice small coin collection. I hope my kids don't take it to the pawn shop to sell one day. Of course, I have my notes on it too that they'll find and I'm trying to teach a few about the "hobby".

But with any business, you have your honest businesspeople, and dishonest businesspeople. They may be giving grandma pennies on the valuation dollar or may be giving them more appropriate valuations upon a sale.

Seller / Buyer beware as everything else.

 

I agree that whole hobby is controlled by dealers and graders.Recently i had to buy a Rs.5 face value coin of year 2007 for Rs.1200 because whole lot was taken by dealers and no coin was circulated in the open market and i know that it will not be possible for my successors to sale this coin even for Rs.100. But moreover I think I have enjoyed this coin keeping in my collection and that is the worth of this hobby.

 

Y'all are only paying those ridiculous dealer prices because you choose to buy what they're selling. There are....quite a few....other coins out there, some quite affordable.

Just sayin'.

 

Shhh...don't tell anyone, but it's all controlled by a little old lady in Pasadena!

 

I don't really care what the dealers do. I do not collect coins because I want to have a dealer give me what I think they are worth. I collect because I like the feel of the coin in my hand, the full album, the beauty of the older coins as compared to the trash we use in daily commerce. I do not collect because I want a big piece of plastic junk with a coin I'm suppose to "enjoy" housed in it in my collection. Besides I've seen fake coins slabbed in TPG plastic slabs. Were the slabs fake too? China is getting good at producing fake coins and fake slabs; at least with a raw coin I can easily test them to determine if they are fakes, and I have a whole box of fakes, and a whole list of 'dealers" whom I no longer deal with who sell fakes.

 

And she lives across the street from me. She's bat-#%@ crazy too!

 

And the one that dies with the most toys wins the game.

 

Go, Granny, go!

 

Baah! GDJMSP is right and that applies to most retail sales in the U S. No one needs to barter when the next in line will buy it!