Guess the grade #296

Well that's kind of my point Rusty, it is also my entire reason for participating in these polls. As I said in the very beginning when rlm started having these polls, and have said a few more times along the way, I do not even try to estimate what the TPG said, I estimate what I personally think the grade should be.

Now I do that for what I consider to be a very good reason. I do it because I believe that the TPGs have changed their grading standards greatly (for the worse) in recent years. And hopefully my grade estimates will cause at least a couple of people to look at the coins and the grade assigned by the TPG and say - huh ?

Ya see, I have played this game of guess the grade with hundreds of thousands of coins of all denominations. And in years past I was pretty dang good at it. It was pretty unusual for me to look at a coin and have my grade be any different than what the TPG assigned. My accuracy rate was well over 90%. But then it began to change. I found myself looking at a coin, assigning my grade, then looking at the TPG grade and saying - huh ? They are kidding, right ? And it wasn't just with higher graded (65 and up) coins, it was across the board. And in the last 2 or 3 years it's got even worse, or more prevalent anyway.

I knew it wasn't me that changed, that left only 1 option. So I feel it is important for people to at least hear a conflicting opinion if for no other reason than to ask questions about how that coin possibly got that grade. If nothing else it will serve them well for if they consider my point of view then the coins they select for their own collections will be among the best.

Yes, it is certainly possible that a coin can change or develop spots in the slab - after grading. But there are 2 dangers with making the assumption that is indeed what has happened.

One danger is that you are making an excuse for the TPG. You look at the coin, see those spots, and say to yourself - there's no way that coin deserves that grade. And because of your faith in the TPG you make the excuse for them saying, oh, well, the spots obviously developed after the coin was slabbed. No way they would make that mistake !

But what if they did make that mistake ? That is the other possibility. And if they did make that mistake, then your faith in that company is sadly misplaced isn't it.

Do you really believe for one minute that every single coin that you look at and question changed in the slab ? Some of them ? Yeah, I'll give it to ya. But all of them ? Not me bud, I'm not a fish swallowing that line.

But even more importantly than that. What really matters here ? Yeah the game is to guess the grade that the TPG assigned. But what about the grade the coin is now ? Are we just supposed to forget that ? Even if you are correct and the spots developed after slabbing, if the coin was graded 66 and had no spots, once the coin developed those spots it is no longer a 66 ! It has become a 65, or a 64 or whatever. Even PCGS states flat out that coin with spots should not be graded 65.

So if that holder says 66 or even worse 67, and the coin has spots - the coin is not graded correctly ! And it doesn't matter what it used to be, the only thing that really matters is what it is now ! Let's not forget that.

Luster is very important, it always has been. And it doesn't matter whether you follow TPG standards or ANA standards, luster is the single most important grading criteria there is. There's a couple of reasons for that. Number one is that luster tells you more about the coin than anything else. A break in the luster is what shows you rub, wear or mishandling. It also helps tell you the quality of the strike, and it helps you see contact marks and hairlines. And luster is what creates eye appeal, or most of it.

There are 6 basic criteria for grading, most people don't even pay attention to two of them. But that doesn't mean they just go away, they are still part of the criteria for accurate grading. They are - planchet quality, strike, contact marks, hairlines, luster, and eye appeal. And as I was saying above, luster has an impact on 5 of those 6 things. So it is the single most important criteria.

But just because it is most important, that does not mean that great, booming, luster makes contact marks invisible or go away. A coin can have the very best luster that any coin ever had, but if that coin has 3 or 4 large contact marks in prime focal areas then that coin is not deserving of a Gem grade (65 or higher). Period, end of story. Same thing goes with all of the other grading criteria and luster.

A coin is only deserving of a Gem grade when it meets it all of the criteria requirements for the respective grade. Not just 1 or 2 of them !

 

I know Mike. But if we don't speak up now and then aren't we doing people a disservice ? There are a great many people who follow these threads and try to learn proper grading from reading the comments and looking at the pictures, and the grades the TPGs assign. And if when we disagree with the assigned grade we stay quiet, what are those people going to learn ? They'll learn the wrong way is what.

Sorry, but I'm just not in favor of that. I'm here to share knowledge, to try and teach when I can, and to learn when I can. And if only 1 person ever listens, then I've done what I set out to do