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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Insider, post: 3214009, member: 24314&quot;]The graders - the long-time experienced ones at the major grading services are all good.&nbsp; They must grade to company standards.&nbsp; As for who&#039;s best...that&#039;s something you&#039;ll need to decide for yourself.&nbsp; As one member wrote, it&#039;s hard to beat a PCGS slab with a CAC sticker no matter what you think of the actual coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>One thing to consider is that some of the graders at the lower tier services have been on the job longer than the graders at the top two services.&nbsp; Coin grading has taken a very winding path since the 1970&#039;s that leads up to the present time.&nbsp; If I had to make a bet, I&#039;d say the long-time graders at ICG and ANACS tend to be more old school as they were grading coins for years when the standards were much tighter.&nbsp; That&#039;s why IMO, most of you here would agree more often with the grade assigned to a coin by ICG or ANACS.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>There is also the # of coins graded a week that enters into the equation.&nbsp; Plus if any of you think that a very experienced professional grader is going to catch over 90% of the problems on a coin using their eyes or minimal magnification I have a bridge to sell you.&nbsp; That&#039;s why there is more than one person on a coin and stuff still is missed.&nbsp; Problem coins are straight graded because they are market acceptable and have eye-appeal.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>You should see the crap the big guys try and get past ICG.&nbsp; Dozens today alone valued in the four and five figures.&nbsp; Best example from today (I&#039;m putting it in my Numismatic News column) was a Capped Bust 50c with very light toning that looked like an MS-64+ as I removed it from the flip.&nbsp; While I debated a 64 or 64+ I moved it onto the scope w/fluorescent light and BOOM!&nbsp; It had a fairly good repaired field that IMO would pass at least 80% of the collectors/dealers. It&#039;s the kind of coin that we get calls on.&nbsp; &quot;I&#039;ve shown this to four dealers and they don&#039;t see anything!&nbsp; LOL. So its a 3/4 natural &quot;gem&quot; and a 1/4 &quot;trap&quot; for the unknowing.&nbsp; How about naked eye </p><p>MS-66 looking Liberty gold - that is mark free yet lightly buffed in such a manner that 90% would miss it.&nbsp; These coins are in MS-64 slabs.&nbsp; I&#039;ve warned folks before.&nbsp; Don&#039;t think you know more than the graders.&nbsp; Most of the time there is a reason that &quot;perfect&quot; coin is not graded higher.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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