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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Lehigh96, post: 494882, member: 15309&quot;]Doug,</p><p><br /></p><p>You are the best grader on this site by far.&nbsp; If anyone disagrees, feel free to chime in.&nbsp; My guess is that almost every member of the forum respects your opinion of grading a coin more than anyone else&#039;s, myself included.&nbsp; In fact, I would rank your grading skills equal to those of a professional grader given the fact that you are grading from photos.</p><p><br /></p><p>I know the TPG&#039;s make mistakes and overgrade coins, don&#039;t dispute it one little bit.&nbsp; However, I do believe that they ignore strike more than any other element of grading.&nbsp; I have seen them do it on Morgan Dollars, Peace Dollars, SLQ&#039;s, Buffalo Nickels, and certainly on Jefferson Nickels.&nbsp; If I have seen examples from every series I collect with inferior strikes residing in MS67 holders, it leads me to believe that under certain circumstances, they ignore strike as an element of grading.</p><p><br /></p><p>I very rarely see a coin with booming luster, full strike, and great eye appeal with a grade limiting mark make it into an MS67 holder.&nbsp; I like the grading system we have, but these types of things make me wonder how important strike actually is to the TPG&#039;s when they grade a coin.&nbsp; Some collectors feel strike is everything.&nbsp; From what I have seen, strike seems to be the least important in their eyes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Do the graders have reference material regarding strike characteristics for each year &amp; mint for every series?&nbsp; They can&#039;t possibly have all of that information memorized.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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