Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SuperDave, post: 69059, member: 1892&quot;]My first stop for reference when coin-shopping is <a href="http://www.heritagecoins.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.heritagecoins.com/" rel="nofollow">Heritage</a> . They&#039;ve got a *huge* database of relevant information - prices realized, great pics, population numbers, etc. Registration is free and gives you access to all of it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Your opinion of grading standards illustrates the completely subjective nature of grading, even within the &quot;professional grading&quot; (by that I mean Top 4 grading services only, as the rest are completely value-driven) community. The Top 4 retain, IMO, somewhat objective standards and altruistic motives, yet even within their own walls they differ from grader to grader. Given such a subjective environment, like any other investment medium, I think the market drives the grade as much as the grade drives the market. That&#039;s the bottom line of &quot;gradflation,&quot; IMO. Everyone wants to make money, and that&#039;s accomplished very easily by just increasing the grade of what you already own. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Your rather strict standard, although as &quot;right&quot; to my sensibilities as it is to yours, reflects a &quot;perfect world&quot; scenario where people aren&#039;t making a living either selling coins or grading them.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s tough to evaluate the actual surface of the particular coin in question with the pictures provided. I don&#039;t see the obverse bagmarks you refer to, but I see enough crap on the reverse field to disqualify it from MS68. But, that&#039;s just you and me. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> NGC thinks it&#039;s 68, and it&#039;s an admittedly gorgeous coin. In Hertiage&#039;s history of similar sales are a couple with what I consider noticeable marks as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>That particular issue bothers me because there&#039;s well over 100 &#039;79-S&#039;s graded MS68 between PCGS and NGC, yet the Buy It Now for that auction is a realistic number based on prices realized. That&#039;s the market-driven part of the grade/price matrix - people are willing to pay MS68 prices for a coin that looks like that, so NGC grades it that way.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s as much due to the uneducated status of much of the market as it is to the relative rarity of the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have a few Top 4 slabbed coins that cause me discomfort to see the grade they made.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in