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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;physics-fan3.14, post: 2767505, member: 19165&quot;]The key point here is &quot;looking at pictures.&quot; Pictures will never completely portray a coin, and you can&#039;t really understand a picture unless you&#039;ve seen plenty of that type in hand. </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not going to make any assumptions about your budget except: you haven&#039;t looked at a whole lot of these coins in hand. I&#039;ll assume you aren&#039;t terribly familiar with the 5-6 figure coins. That&#039;s ok - most collectors aren&#039;t. </p><p><br /></p><p>I will say that I&#039;ve seen a large number of these types of coins in hand. I make a point to look at them whenever I go to large shows. There is no chance that I&#039;ll own any in the near future, but I like looking at them. I enjoy early US type. I&#039;m far from a specialist in the area, but I&#039;m familiar with it. I&#039;ve held million dollar coins. I&#039;ve examined multi-million dollar coins under my loupe. </p><p><br /></p><p>Just like any other series, you have to look at a whole lot of them to really understand them. I guarantee you, the graders have looked at more of them than you have. They&#039;ve looked at thousands of them. They&#039;ve spent many, many hours studying them. They understand the strike, they understand the minting process, they understand how the coins have been handled and stored and treated for the past couple hundred years. <b>I absolutely guarantee that anyone at a TPG knows far more about a 1794 dollar than you ever will.</b> That is an expensive coin. I&#039;ve seen a dozen in hand - how many have you seen? The TPGs have seen even more than me.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve seen hundreds of Seated Dollars in hand. I&#039;ve seen dozens of problem Seated dollars in hand, and even more on-line. The TPGs have seen even more. </p><p><br /></p><p>Yeah, the TPGs may make mistakes sometimes. But the fact is, these people are chosen because they are extremely knowledgeable and very accurate - they have the experience to grade and detect problems. They understand what is (generally) market acceptable. There are coins with dipping, cleaning, scratches, etc., in the slabs - and usually, they are there because they are considered market acceptable. You&#039;ve seen a few coins, and a few more in pictures online - they&#039;ve seen hundreds of thousands of coins, over decades of experience. You may think you know what you are doing - but the harsh reality is that the graders at PCGS and NGC can walk circles around you before you&#039;ve even blinked. Sorry if this sounds mean, its just the truth.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I realize this will be a controversial post. I realize it may sound like I&#039;m being mean. The harsh reality is that the vast majority of the armchair quarterbacks on this website have nowhere near the experience or knowledge that the TPG graders have. We enjoy our hobby - but for us it is a hobby. For them, it is a business, it is their job. They are good at their job, or else they wouldn&#039;t have a job. The professionals (generally) know more than the hobbyists - otherwise the hobbyists would out-profit the professionals. </p><p><br /></p><p>So, TC&#039;93, you can talk a big game - but there is a lot more to the world than I think you realize.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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