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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;NPCoin, post: 627245, member: 5629&quot;]You are a collector, and thus should not need anybody&#039;s approval but your own to know a coin that you like or dislike.&nbsp; The problem is that the &quot;sight-unseen&quot; market was developed for the investment market, not the collector market.</p><p><br /></p><p>Consider these quotes from Dennis Steinmetz&#039;s book <i>Investing In Rare Coins</i>:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The vision of some decades ago was akin to this sight-unseen, internet-based market scheme we have today with the major auction houses and third party graders. The problem, however, is that this vision was intended for the investor and speculator, not necessarily for the collector.&nbsp; However, the same attitude is taken by quite a few people lumping the collector into all the speculation and investment mayhem we have today.</p><p><br /></p><p>A collector should know what they like, and like what they collect.&nbsp; This is the whole heart of the &quot;buy the coin, not the slab&quot; attitude.&nbsp; CAC simply adds to the whole mess by being used as a vehicle for some to spew even more of the &quot;need&quot; for further party assessments of what a collector should or shouldn&#039;t like.</p><p><br /></p><p>Leave CAC and the TPGs as a vehicle for investment.&nbsp; If you are collecting, then get serious about it and learn something. You already know what you like, and what you dislike.&nbsp; You do not need anybody to tell you that toning is damage to the coin&#039;s surface.&nbsp; If you like the pretty colors, then YOU like it and should collect it.&nbsp; If blast white tickles you pink, then stay away from toners.&nbsp; You like MS grade coins, then buy what you like at a price you are actually willing to pay to own the coin, slab or no slab.</p><p><br /></p><p>The collector market is not made by looking through trade papers and price guides and paying in accordance with a number printed to some label inside some plastic.&nbsp; The collector market is made by what you the collector are willing to pay for any given coin you desire to have in your collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>A major problem I have with CAC and the TPGs is that they tout themselves as serving the <b>collector</b> community, when in fact they are the vision of numismatists for investors, and give no real value to collectors as the collector receives no <b>insight</b> as to why the coin was graded a certain way, nor the problems with the coin, nor any comments regarding exceptional traits of the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin grading is subjective, there are different standards that are used, different techniques, and different opinions. One cannot claim a grade, especially in higher Mint State conditions, to be wrong, erred, or otherwise incorrect, unless such grade grossly misrepresents the standard being used by the grader, whether that grader is a &quot;professional&quot; or a collector or dealer.</p><p><br /></p><p>I will not give a Morgan a Fine grade no matter how exceptional the details are if the rims are not full and bold.&nbsp; And I will not call an uncirculated coin AU because of improper cleaning, ugly corrosion, or otherwise if the coin is in fact uncriculated.</p><p><br /></p><p>As a collector, I am more interested in the fact that the coin has good eye appeal to me to be in my collection.&nbsp; The price I pay for it will depend on certain criteria such as amount of wear, visible luster, evident misuse and damage, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t need anybody to tell me what I like or what to collect. As a collector, my interests are not in the ability to resell the piece.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the other hand, as an investor and speculator, my interests are totally and completely the profit that may be made on a short term turn around, as well as weighing the prospects for a long term hold and future payout of the investment.&nbsp; At this point, my opinion of grade does not even matter.&nbsp; What matters is what the prospective buyers feel about the coin, and what they are willing to pay for it.&nbsp; This is the only function the third party graders and CAC have, is in the investment market, where my opinion does not even matter.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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