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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;onecenter, post: 844720, member: 8703&quot;]Back in 1986 when Professional Coin Grading Service began its operations of grading and certifying results, Coin World was filled with pages and pages of reader opinions, both in favor or disfavor of what this company was trying to achieve.</p><p><br /></p><p>I never knew what all the fanfare was then, and I still do not.&nbsp; The grading &quot;standards&quot; have never been standard.&nbsp; I remember terms used in the early 1990&#039;s like &quot;over-graded,&quot; &quot;numis-hype&quot; and &quot;grade-flation.&quot;&nbsp; The whole numerical grading system was appropriated from a published system originally limited to large cents from 1793-1814 by Sheldon.&nbsp; All of a sudden, this numeric grading system became nirvana, the holy grail.</p><p><br /></p><p>If members here or elsewhere like certified coins, that is fine.&nbsp; But for my collecting interests, entombing a coin in some superior plastic &quot;slab&quot; for some fee is of zero interest.&nbsp; Collectors should learn to grade their own coins.&nbsp; There are certainly plenty of good grading guides and sources available to the collector, from the old system of Brown and Dunn, to Photograde, to ANA Standards and many more.</p><p><br /></p><p>Q. David Bowers has stated time and time again, buy the book before the coin.&nbsp; This advice should apply to grading guides, as well.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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