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Message:: [QUOTE="ToughCOINS, post: 2066425, member: 20480"]Really?  To what other reason would you attribute a conscious shift by the TPG's from technical grading to market grading, especially when that shift caused such foreseeable discontent among those who had learned to grade according to then prevailing technical standards?    Helping the helpless is easy to explain.  If a coin technically satisfies the requirements of an MS66, but is covered in ugly toning, market grading would attentuate the grade and the corresponding value to something lesser so that a buyer unqualified to determine value on his / her own is less likely to overpay. As for confusion, the simplest example I can give you that most should be able to relate to is poor agreement with the grading criteria published by PCGS, the ANA and Photograde.  Following those standards, there is little / no accounting for subjective appeal, or the lack thereof in assigning a grade - only technical considerations such as strike, luster, wear and marks.  For adherents to those strict technical guidelines, a meaningful adjustment in the grade of a coin for some other factor usually evokes a response that the coin is either overgraded or undergraded.  I can't count the number of times that a coin having beautiful toning over the marks of an MS63, and graded MS65 results in third party grading being called a scam.  I'm generalizing, of course, but those collectors resent having spent much time and effort learning to grade, only to have the tables turned on them.    Less skilled buyers generally bathe in overgraded, overpriced and misrepresented coins before they acquire the skills necessary to avoid those pitfalls.  Collectors with the passion to persist through those experiences and the inclination to strengthen their skills end up building meaningful collections without paying unfairly for the enjoyment derived from the hobby.  That takes time and study, and is called paying one's dues. Investors on the other hand, after taking a beating, usually lick their wounds and move on to another vehicle.  Had the TPG's not re-attracted the disenchanted investment community with market grading to substantially relieve them of the need to learn, they may never have come back to invest in coins again. With market grading now in place, investors are back, not needing to acquire the requisite skills, yet less afraid of buying technically graded coins having some unrecognized downside.  If the market reverted to technical grading again, the investors would suffer another round of bruising, and likely not return for more punishment.  While the best coins would still be soaked up by the deepest pockets, an awful lot of good coins would not be, and those would experience a demand-driven correction.   Of all of the collections I've acquired over the years, I cannot count on two hands the number of "collections" I have purchased from profit-driven individuals who aggressively sunk strong money into technically graded coins that were not worth nominal money for the grades assigned. In most of those cases, their sentiment at the time was that coins are a terrible investment.  I know for sure that a few of those people are now back at it again, and suspect the others may be as well.  That might not be the case if the TPGs hadn't replaced technical grading with market grading.[/QUOTE]

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