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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Lehigh96, post: 957595, member: 15309&quot;]Doug,</p><p><br /></p><p>I have on many occasions criticized the mantra &quot;buy the coin, not the plastic&quot;.&nbsp; Although I do employ it in regard to Jefferson Nickels and I certainly form my own opinion of a coin&#039;s grade independent of the TPG grade on other series, I do not have the hubris to think that I am always right and the TPG&#039;s are always wrong.&nbsp; Grading is subjective and the grade an individual assigns to a coin will depend greatly on how that person ranks the elements of grade in importance.&nbsp; For example, a strike conscious collector will be much tougher on a weakly struck coin no matter how good the luster &amp; eye appeal are.&nbsp; Everytime I think a coin is misgraded, I strive to understand why the grader assigned the grade.&nbsp; Most of the time, this exercise provides me with a legitimate reason that is not simply &quot;the coins is misgraded&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Most collectors would be wise to simply accept the grade assigned by the TPG&#039;s because they don&#039;t have the requisite grading skills in order to properly employ the &quot;buy the coin, not the holder&quot; mantra.&nbsp; Would you disagree with that?&nbsp; Didn&#039;t think so!</p><p><br /></p><p>And while we are discussing mantras.&nbsp; How about this one!&nbsp; It is impossible to grade a coin by looking at photographs.&nbsp; Now where have I heard that before.&nbsp; That&#039;s right, a really old guy with sunglasses and a mustache said it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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