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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;RabidRick, post: 2016563, member: 37868&quot;]Meh... I don&#039;t remember a time when people *didn&#039;t* complain about TPG inconsistancies. I remember back when I was 13 or so, talking to a coin dealer (who specialized in extremely rare and hard-to-find newsworthy pieces) and he ranted about this. That was 20 years ago.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also haven&#039;t seen much value in CAC before, but maybe this is an example of where it has merit.</p><p><br /></p><p>If PCGS is loosening their standards I&#039;m almost certain it&#039;s because more people have been submitting to NGC just to get the better grade. There probably is some bias too, in rare occasions.</p><p><br /></p><p>That said, I agree with the post before that TPG&#039;s *do* have value in this hobby, especially now that much of it is online. You had sight-unseen coins back then too, from catalogues or magazines or whatever but I think the majority of coins were sold by dealers at actual coin stores. These days, I see many of *those* dealers turning to sites like eBay simply because they end up getting a better deal and a much broader cilent base.</p><p><br /></p><p>It almost makes me wonder if I should get my high-priced ancients certified, despite NGC&#039;s fine print <b><i>they don&#039;t even guarantee authenticity</i></b> unlike they do with modern US coins. I &quot;know&quot; these coins are authentic, mostly because I buy from certain well-established auction houses and have read up on fakes. (I know is in quotes because I&#039;m aware there have even been moderns that were fakes that made it through the TPG&#039;s).</p><p><br /></p><p>If I were to sell them raw on eBay however, I doubt I&#039;d get the same as I would somewhere like CNG which generally sells them raw anyway (come to think of it, I&#039;m not even sure I&#039;ve seen a slabbed coin on their site). It&#039;s kind of a moot point though, because I have no desire to sell any of that stuff at the moment. I&#039;m more a collector than a dealer; I only deal duplicates when I come across something better.</p><p><br /></p><p>With sites like eBay though, there are SO MANY fakes and problem coins it&#039;s the only way people will be able to buy the high-end stuff and have assurance what they are buying is as stated. I&#039;ve bought some expensive raw coins that looked AWESOME from the pictures but after inspection found that they were either cleaned or damaged in some way hidden by the photography. I got my money back, though.</p><p><br /></p><p>Heck, just today on the ride back home I ran across this:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/AEGINA-SEA-TURTLE-ELECTRUM-7th-CENTURY-C-E-/161473329802?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/AEGINA-SEA-TURTLE-ELECTRUM-7th-CENTURY-C-E-/161473329802?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123" rel="nofollow">http://www.ebay.com/itm/AEGINA-SEA-TURTLE-ELECTRUM-7th-CENTURY-C-E-/161473329802?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123</a></p><p><br /></p><p>I messaged the dealer... I&#039;m not sure if they even know it&#039;s a fake, but I haven&#039;t gotten a response back.</p><p><br /></p><p>EDIT: I just now got a response. He said &quot;It was purchased from the estate of a well known british collector&quot; and so would have no doubt it&#039;s genuine. I had already told him the weight and composition were incorrect and the size points to a stater. I guess we&#039;ll see what happens. Looking at his store, it doesn&#039;t seem like this is the only one...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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