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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 14176720, member: 101855"]And yet, [USER=17261]@BadThad[/USER], you need to recognize that the third party graders were created to combat the evils of over grading, coin doctor practices and counterfeiters who were cheating collectors and other coin purchasers and giving the hobby a bad reputation. In the early 1980s, there were numerous “numismatic investment companies” who were systematically selling over graded material. In Boston, there was a firm that bought AU graded coins from legitimate dealers and sold them in “investment portfolios” to unsuspecting buyers as “Gem MS-65 investment grade coins.” I saw the results of this when one of those buyers brought his “investment portfolio”, housed in a plastic coin wallet, to a local auction venue to be sold. The best “investment” this person had was a 1911-D $2.50 gold piece. He had paid $3,200. It sold for $1,150. I bought a “BU” Shield Nickel for $45. He had paid $3,200. The person who owned the “numismatic investment house” was under indictment from fraud and was on the lamb in the Caribbean. The FTC was after New England Rare Coin Galleries for like actions. The TPGs were needed to fix the problem. It had to be done.[/QUOTE]