Well now PCGS is grading replica paper - they have no shame. I received a coin companies flyer yesterday and they have PCGS graded "Chief" five dollar replica graded 66 PPQ for only $49.95. Be the first on your block to get your replicas graded and entombed. What will they grade next? Album covers, coin catalogs, movie posters, match book covers, maybe they should grade anything if it does not move on it's own????
If I owned a grading company, I'd grade whatever my customers wanted me to grade using the highest standards of integrity and consistency possible -- as long as the skill set existed within the company and it made economic sense. The elitist view that some things are not gradeable is a bad business practice and presumes the grading company has perfect foresight as to what is or is not collectible now and in the future.
Your right if owned a company I would grade anything, Your right if owned a company I would grade anything that customers wanted graded but I would also know that if I graded such it would be with a wink and a smile because my sole motive was to make money off peoples vanity and supposed heightened, inflated opinion of themselves and their so called collectible. So yes, they will grade anything and while they are at it know that their grade means less and less as time goes on. If I will grade anything for a fee what does that really say about my true grading of really rare and genuine items - am I proving my worth or my excess???????????
Is PGCS in financial trouble? They jumped on the Obama thing with their "own a piece of history" thing and now this. I do think in the short term it may generate more revenue for them, but hurt them for the long term. To me it is a degrading of a grading company that has been well respected as a TPG for many years. I think there was a poll recently here on CT and if I'm not mistaken NGC was the winner and Doug pointed out a few years ago that would have never happened.
I guess anything to make a buck and when your the only one grading replica's(that I know of) it is hard to have anyone say your wrong. Where is PCGS going with this???
That's the same thing that came to my mind. Not only are they competing with the competition but are going through this economic downturn like everybody else. Maybe numbers are down? It looks like a desperate attempt at a revenue source. Unless there was a lot of pressure from somebody to do this. I wonder if the rookie graders get delegated to grading the replicas? :goof: It seems foolish to me. I can't believe the demand is there. I would think in most cases, the grading fees would cost more than what was being graded.
smells funny to me. I just don't see why PCGS would lower themselves to grading what really amounts to a legal fake except that they may be in dire financial straits.
Would y'all say the same about a Fugio New Haven restrike? Confederate Half Dollars? Taler restrikes? etc.
I said a company should grade anything for which they have the skill set. If you intend to grade anything that comes through the door even if you don't know anything about it, there would be no integrity to the process.
The parent company, Collector's Universe, has a lot of cash and no debt. But they are also burning cash and losing money. So they aren't exactly in financial trouble yet, but probably will be at some time in the future if nothing changes.
If a sports caster announced an entire 3 hour baseball game that never happened, they would call him insane!
HM.....I guess PCGS will do anything to make money!! I lost all of my respect for PCGS in doing the whole obama thing!!
well at least they are not dumb enough to read the mint mark wrong. i shudder when ngc will be the only grading service left. though i think if pcgs is losing money and nothing changes sooner or later we will have ngc as the only company left
Um, think you missed the point... that's a story about Reagan reciting games he hadn't seen, not games that never happened. Important distinction; Reagan was reciting genuine games that actually happened, just ones that he hadn't personally witnessed.
DGS Unveils New, Super Easy On-line Submission Form and More! Posted by Mike Ellis at 23 March, 2009, 10:16 am. 197 views Categories: DGS (Dominion Grading Service), Hot Topics, Mike Ellis Report, News Last Friday afternoon Dominion Grading Service (DGS) made its new Submission Form live on their website. It has got to be the easiest submission form ever for a third party grading service. It is loaded with special, optional services as well. Now you will not have to fill out separate forms for different service tiers. It is an all-in-one easy to use form. Along with it, DGS has posted an extensive but not yet complete list of references used in variety attribution and research. The list also shows what the various attribution numbers will look like on your holder. Though it has a large amount of references that any one interested in attributing their coins will want to know about, many more will be added in the near future. To the best of my knowledge it is already the most extensive list of its kind ever published in any form. You owe it to yourself to check it out today! We are working hard to deliver a viable product here at DGS and believe we are making long, positive strides in that direction. For those of you who know me, know that I know (say that three times real fast!) the root of the numismatic community is the collector who is a hobbiest. Hobbies are supposed to be fun and I work hard to ensure this hobby remains fun. Hence, our desire to provide as honest, inexpensive and viable a product as we can. For further evidence of this check out this coin blog (scroll down to “ICG Moves to Florida, Does it Matter?”) and then read DGS President John Feigenbaum’s comment on the post. Friends, enjoy! Mike
If PCGS were in trouble and needed money they could EASILY make it by expanding their coin numbering system to include ALL die varieties and they would be completely swamped with business. People have been BEGGING them for years to stop recognizing only the top 2.5% of known die varieties and start using some of the systems that delve farther into the mix...but because of the work and trouble involved, they have vehemiantly refused. If PCGS were in financial trouble they would go to the 100 point grading system, or start grading mint state coins in decimals (MS65.6) so people would send coins back in for regrade. Some have said it will eventually come anyway, so why not go ahead and get it over with? If PCGS were in financial trouble they would start recognizing that the age (or state) of the die that struck the coins SHOULD have something to do with the grade of the coin, because a sharply struck mark free example of any issue in crystal clear EDS is a whole different coin that the same in a mushy VLDS...but both get MS67 at the grading services, thus keeping picky people from ever buying coins sight unseen because the die state is not mentioned on the holders. I think there are a LOT of realistic (albeit probably very unpopular) directions for the grading services to go if they need money before bothering with grading pocket lint or saltines.