When multiple coins are graded/slabbed at the same time, I believe the number will come back such as this nickel, 4262201-048 My question is, when a batch of coins are graded, is there a tendency to under or over grade?
I think it's safe to guess that the percentage of their business which isn't large lots is pretty small....
The graders are grading all day. Probably does not matter to them which ones actually came in together.
I don't know what the definition of a large lot is?? (more than 20) Are you saying that most coins are submitted in larger dealer lots?
Maybe I am taking it the wrong way, but I think that Dave is referring to submissions of individual coins as opposed to bulk submissions. Chris
Yeah, when you look at it in terms of sheer volume, the overwhelming majority of submissions these days are Modern mintages - ASE's, NIFC's - and/or dealer lots of dozens at a time (old collections purchased and the like). There are a lot more individuals submitting a few at a time like you or me, but we all add up to maybe one or two of the real volume submitters. One has to contemplate the volume involved here. There really isn't time for a grader to process very much more than "grade this one and move on to the next" as fast as possible; further subjective things like "give this guy a favor compared to the next" kinda devolves into conspiracy theory to my mind. And, since so many of the customers would rate this kind of favor due to volume, where do you draw the line?
I would hate to even contemplate the notion that NGC - or any other TPG - would "play favorites" when it came to grading coins submitted for "an unbiased evaluation". Just the thought gives me the shutters.
No. The TPGs make their business, and stake their reputation, on their consistency. Collectors argue about that consistency all day long and love to point out the outliers - but the fact is, on average the TPGs are very accurate and relatively consistent. A large batch is graded the same as an individual coin. There is actually a pretty decent chance that the graders themselves don't even *know* which coins came in together. One of the only times where a group of coins came in together will influence the graders is when the coins all exhibit similar characteristics. For example, a few years ago, a coin doctor was caught because he submitted a batch of coins which he had artificially toned. There were a number of coins, from different series, which all exhibited similar toning characteristics. These coins all had golden yellow fading to burnt orange and pink colors - they were quite attractive, and quite convincing. But because there were several coins with similar (unusual) toning patterns at the same time, the graders became suspicious and correctly identified that they were AT.
The graders have coins from only one submission in front of them at a time, but may not have all the coins from that submission.
