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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Lehigh96, post: 3220389, member: 15309&quot;]While I agree that you shouldn&#039;t blindly trust TPG grades and you should always ensure that the coin meets your own personal standards for the assigned grade, I&#039;m going to tell you that your incessant criticism of the TPGs on this forum makes it hard to believe/remember that you basically give them an A grade for their performance.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>There is a difference between market grading and value grading.&nbsp; Raising the grade of a coin with MS63 surfaces to MS65 because it has premium gem luster and eye appeal is market grading.&nbsp; Grading an obviously circulated 18th century rarity as a mint state coin in order to separate it from other AU coins is value grading.&nbsp; I agree with the first and blame the second for the horrible reputation that market grading has among collectors. </p><p><br /></p><p>Personally, I grade holistically.&nbsp; I look at the coin without a loupe and evaluate the coins overall presentation and assign a grade.&nbsp; Then I use a loupe to look for any problems that I missed with eye test that could detrimentally affect the grade.&nbsp; In this regard, I am much more likely to reward both luster and eye appeal and forgive minor surface marks.&nbsp; If that sounds like what the TPGs do, then you can understand why I defend their grading practices.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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