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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Leadfoot, post: 725531, member: 2972&quot;]The question is not how old the standards are, but rather when they were used broadly in the marketplace.&nbsp; I would submit that much after the 80&#039;s end (and certainly by the mid-90s), ANA grading was largely supplanted by market grading.&nbsp; You were certainly more numismatically active than I during that time, so please feel free to disagree.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Not if the new standard (market grading) does a better job at it.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s a weak rationalization, IMO.&nbsp; The TPGs in the early days met with the most resistance from the dealers, not the collectors.&nbsp; It was done to help reign in the vast differences in grades between dealers (who, incidentally, claimed to adhere to the ANA standards).&nbsp; The TPGs gained traction for one reason -- they provided a valuable service by removing grading from the dealers&#039; hands.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now you can argue that lots of things have changed since then (for instance gradeflation), but I don&#039;t think it&#039;s fair to conclude the TPG-backed market grading was done out of a lack of desire for honesty when it was precisely the opposite that caused the TPG revolution. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Setting aside the Jefferson discussion, I disagree with the argument above, primarily because technical grading does not take into account the most important characteristic when it comes to placing a value on a coin -- eye appeal.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>If they throw out luster in their grading because the market no longer cares about it, I&#039;d be 100% OK with it.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Of course a coin has to be worth the price/grade it assigned.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>But just because you discount a die crack or a less than fully struck coin, doesn&#039;t mean the market as a whole does, and quite frankly, I think you are in the minority when it comes to the impact in price/value with it comes to these types of shortcomings.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In the end, it is up to each of us to decide if a coin is worth the price asked.&nbsp; Grading coins is simply a means to that end.&nbsp; Because the shortcomings of technical grading do not allow a direct means to price coins, market grading is a much better predictor of price.&nbsp; Unfortunately, it is also a bit more subjective than technical grading, and if there&#039;s a shortcoming of market grading, it is that.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Regardless, it is still up to each of us to decide one way or the other if a coin&#039;s price is right for us, but market grading is better than technical grading at doing so, so that&#039;s the one I prefer -- but in no way does a grade or a price dictate if I like a coin or not...&gt;Mike[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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