Some people believe that the higher grading tier you pay for gets you more liberal grading. For example if you have a coin which is “on the fence between a 66 and 67” you will have a better chance having it graded 67 at a show under the “show tier” for $100 compared to “economy tier” for around $18. My question is do you think that you have a better chance getting that higher grade (when a coin is “on the fence”) submitting it to a 3rd party grading service yourself, or through a dealer? The assumption is that graders don’t know who submitted the coins, but I have heard a myth they sometimes recognize hand writing. What are your thoughts?
I don't think how you submitt it will make any difference. I think what concerns some, is the dealer getting preferred treatment for his own personal or store merchandise, not your submittal through him.
It makes absolutely no difference in the assigned grade by a TPG , whether you submit your coins through a dealer or at a show or other direct submission forms. The grading companies show no partiality to any one dealer or direct bulk submissions . Once you coin arrives at the graders desk , they have no idea who submitted the coin's , it's all done by the numbers . Yeah, some conspiracy folks may think there is some favoritism depending on who the submitting dealer is, and that's just false. You can believe in the conspiracy and stew over what you think are unfair grades, or you can understand the fact that grading is subjective and will always be left to the opinion of a buyer or seller regardless of what the slab indicates .
Very interesting. With a fallow up question, it is my opinion that 3rd party graders have a intimate knowledge of the coin market, thus the reason they are not allowed to buy and sell coins. Do you think the graders are more conservative grading a coin when there is a price jump of say $10,000 between grades? They might not know who submitted the coins, but they sure do know that whoever did would make an extra $10,000 if they got the higher grade. (I understand for the most part that this does not or should not happen, thus several graders looking at the same coin would have to agree with the grade)
I hope so, but not for the monetary value, but for the rarity value. If a single step is 10 grand more, it isn't a common coin/ Rarities are more likely to be fake, or if genuine, shown over the forums, or end up in Heritage type of auction, so they want to be as accurate as possible. Also there is usually several graders and a finalizer who agree on the grade, so no one grader could jump it. If the grade does look too high to someone after slabbing, I would suspect the standards set used. Jim
One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that if you purchase a coin in a PCGS slab and it's deemed to be over graded, they provide a guarantee that says they will replace the coin, or make up the difference in value. That could make for some expensive mistakes. I think that is how it works anyway.
Uh.. I could be wrong and please, correct me if I am. At PCGS , they will not assign a plus grade to a coin unless you submit under the Secure Plus service. So therefore you can get a higher grade if you pay more. If anyone thinks this is wrong, please provide factual proof. Thank you. Careful.. I don't think that applies to copper anymore. They might guarantee the grade, but they won't guarantee the color. I do not know how this applies to spotting that commonly occurs after slabbing.
Yes, and they are. Take a coin with very little spread through the grades... say, an SVDB. If they're on the fence as to whether or not the coin's a 15 or a 20, they won't lose sleep over slabbing the coin as a weak VF versus a really strong Fine. The value difference is probably $1,000 vs $1,100, if that. Now, say they get a 1904-S Barber Half and it's a REALLY REALLY nice 64... like the world's best 64... or a weak 65... but a 64 is a $25k coin and a 65 is a $50k coin. In that case? No.
No, I do not think that the tier you use has any impact at all on the grade assigned. But there are things that do impact or bump the grade. Those things would be rarity, pedigree and toning. Some folks would say that cost is also a factor, but rarity and cost go hand in hand most of the time so one covers the other to my way of thinking.
