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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TypeCoin971793, post: 2768281, member: 78244&quot;]So my grading philosophy is not my own. So I borrowed a lot of it from people and members on these forum whom I trust. If you are using TPG standards, are you not adopting their standards? There really isn&#039;t anything wrong with that. My philosophy just happens to be in the minority.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Okay, so I started looking at a bunch of Top-Pop since our first discussion, and I will consent that they are superior in quality. I do not see the significant added value of a single point to the grade (though in some cases I can), but it is not my money, so it is not my prerogative to judge whether or not someone is &quot;right&quot; or &quot;wrong&quot; for spending their money on something they like. I was wrong. Happy?</p><p><br /></p><p>I have isolated my two major gripes with the TPGs above, which you dismissed. Designating a circulated coin, however lightly circulated, as uncirculated is a misnomer and is inherently wrong. What&#039;s unreasonably strict about that? It&#039;s like saying the gas tank of your car is full after driving ten miles from the station. No matter how you spin it, it remains incorrect. Sure, preach all you want about the virtues market grading, but PCGS and NGC are called Third Party <i>GRADERS</i>, not Third Party <i>Valuers</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>My other gripe is grading problem coins as problem-free. Many collectors (and dealers!) believe that buying a straight-graded coin guarantees that their coin does not have problems. However, I have seen hundreds of cleaned/scratched/corroded coins in straight holders. This hurts the hobby. For example, I was at the Raleigh show, and there was an elderly gentleman looking to buy a trade dollar. He was at a dealer who had several in stock, including an ANACS AU-58, no details. The dealer claimed that it was &quot;as original as could be.&quot; I asked to look at it, and I see a blast-white coin with no luster with surfaces covered in hairlines. Obviously it was not original, but both parties believed so since it got a straight grade. This has to stop.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now deciding what is market-acceptable is very opinion-based. I can live with a cleaned coin that does not show obvious hairlines and otherwise looks natural. But anything obvious should not be given a pass, no matter how rare and special the coin is. The PCGS PF-68 1804 Dollar has a counterstamp in it. Many straight-graded seated dollars and capped bust halves have their patinas completely stripped and still exhibit many hairlines. Many straight-graded large cents have corrosion or are scratched. I can go on and on. Since market-grading is a thing, net grading down is an option (ANACS tried and gave up, and I have seen a couple net-graded PCGS slabs), but this would also cause confusion in the marketplace (dealers trying to pass net-graded problem coin as undergraded). But nothing I say with change anything, so all I can say is <i>CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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