hello.....another question to add to my learning here.....whats the deal with sgs?....I mean i thot ms70 could only be had in a few select comems.....but sgs seems to offer halves , quarters, dimes etc....all ms70....I dont think ive seen a pcgs or ngc slab in a ms69 perhaps cept new....so are sgs grading standards simply more liberal?....thanmks again for your insight......Jimmy
They over grade coins...search for the word "SGS" here on CT and you will be reading for a long time ;--) Speedy
Grading a coin will always be a subjective issue. Grading companys will have times they seem liberal with grades other times more conservative. As long as the human factor is involved, you will never have a 100% standard for grading. Guidlines are used and certain grading companies have better trade names. Look at the companies prior grades for specific coins to determine if they tend to grade higher or lower than other companies. When buying slabbed coins, look at the coin and check that the coin matches the grade. If it does then buy the coin. You can always have it put in another companies holder if you want it in one.
While your statements are true for coins graded by top tier (and maybe even second tier) TPG's, it isn't such a great plan for bottom feeders like SGS. likeable6- SGS is the shill grader for eBay Powerscammer aboncom. aboncom has all their grading done by SGS and in fact they own SGS. A former member (EdZak, IIRC) here did quite a bit of research and found out that the owner of aboncom is the spouse of the owner of SGS or something similar. (You can find his account of his research by searching this site's archives.) MS/PF70 coins are RARE and the rate at which SGS turns them out guarantees that they don't know what a "70" coin really is. Avoid SGS at all costs, as most of their coins are really MS/PF64/65's
Jimmy - Maybe it will be easier to understand if I put it this way. Think of grading companies like SGS as some guy out in his garage putting coins in slabs and grading them. There are only 4 grading companies that you should ever have any confidence in - NGC - PCGS - ANACS - ICG. That's it - just those 4. Think of all of the others as some guy out in his garage.
