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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Morgandude11, post: 1434399, member: 37839&quot;]Gee, I can really feel the love in this post. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />&nbsp; I understand your points, but certainly not your hostility.&nbsp; How long have you been collecting?&nbsp; Do you remember the &quot;Wild West&quot; days before TPG services existed?&nbsp; Remember looking at a coin and calling it Fair, About Good, Good, Fine, Very Fine, Extra Fine, Uncirculated, Brilliant Uncirculated?&nbsp; That was really scientific, wasn&#039;t it?&nbsp; Definitive grading for sure?&nbsp;&nbsp; No messing with coin grades, and cheating people?&nbsp; I think you are being naive and understating the validity of a third party of experts that can take the randomness and total subjectivity out of coin grading for purposes of serious collection, sale, and sight-unseen purchases.&nbsp; Have TPGs eliminated all doubt?&nbsp; No way.&nbsp; Did they originate all designations as you implied?&nbsp; Course not--even now on Ebay or in any dealer&#039;s store, the seller can call a coin whatever he or she wants.&nbsp; if you wish to call said coin &quot;MS 63 7/78 full monkey excrement,&quot; there is nothing to stop you and question the validity of your designation.&nbsp; No third party is involved, and as such, there is even more room for disagreement than we have on this thread.</p><p><br /></p><p>Are TPGs omniscient?&nbsp; Of course not, and nobody with a sane mind was suggesting that, and I am quite sane.&nbsp; Are they completely consistent?&nbsp; Of course not--they are humans, and as such, they err.&nbsp; Only the Lord is perfect.&nbsp; However, they have created a certain standard that did not exist prior to the &quot;bad old days,&quot; where one person&#039;s opinion was what it was, and you could either believe it, or go elsewhere.&nbsp; Same freedom exists--you don&#039;t like the opinion of the professionals at the TPG, DON&#039;T BUY the coin, or don&#039;t sell it.&nbsp; Have standards changed and have there been some variations from company to company, and from year to year.&nbsp; Of course.&nbsp; Otherwise, we would not be having this discussion in the first place.&nbsp; All I was saying is that TPG grading legitimizes the accurate marketing and evaluation of coins, that was very hairy and dicey before those days.</p><p><br /></p><p>Did they create designations?&nbsp; No, we all called a coin &quot;proof like&quot; when we thought it was, and &quot;Dcam,&quot; when we felt it was in OUR OPINION.&nbsp; Same goes for raw coins today--one is at the mercy of the person grading it, and there is a wide range of experience, credibility, and honesty in that market.&nbsp; Don&#039;t deny that--we have all been duped with cleaned or overgraded raw coins, or dipped ones, or just plain fraudulent advertising of coin condition.&nbsp;&nbsp; TPGs LEGITIMIZE, not create the system for evaluation, and make it far more uniform.&nbsp; Is it perfect--heck no!!&nbsp;&nbsp; Why else would all of the &quot;grade this coin&quot; threads&nbsp; appear, as we all have a coin that we feel has been under graded, or over graded.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t think TPG grading is sacrosanct--it just has &quot;evened the playing field&quot; all around, and has made the purchase and sale a far more informed decision than it was 30+ years ago.&nbsp; Just one collector&#039;s opinion, and you know what they say &#039;bout opinions--everybody has one, they are like posteriors, and they all stink. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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