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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 765821, member: 112&quot;]With coins that are toned, the luster is still there, it is just under the toning. But I will grant you that once toning progresses to a certain point it becomes harder and harder to see.</p><p><br /></p><p>Think of it like this. You have a house that is painted white. But your wife decides that it needs painted - blue. So your house is painted blue. Now did the white paint go away ? No, it&#039;s still there. Scrape away the blue paint and there it is - just as white as ever.</p><p><br /></p><p>Same thing with toned coins. That&#039;s why you can have a heavily toned coin, reagrdless of the metal it is struck in - dip it - and suddenly it is lustrous again.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now an experienced eye can see this luster, even though the coin is toned. An experienced eye can also tell if the luster is gone due to wear, harsh cleaning, or over-dipping.</p><p><br /></p><p>So just because you think you can&#039;t see the luster on an XF coin, that doesn&#039;t mean it isn&#039;t there.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now I will grant you this much. The TPG&#039;s know this just like I know it. And to a very large degree the TPG&#039;s grading standards are based on whatever the market finds acceptable. And since the majority of collectors and dealers never even think of what I have related above, they have become conditioned to accepting coins graded as XF as often not having much or any luster left. For this reason, the TPG&#039;s sometimes grade coins as XF that are not deserving of the XF grade at all - and the market accepts it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Add to that the increasing commonality of a coin&#039;s grade being bumped based on its value and you have a more relaxed grading standard.</p><p><br /></p><p>In all honesty I have come to look at the grades assigned by the major TPG&#039;s as being whatever they can get away with - market aceptability in other words. But that is because in this day and age, with all of the newer collectors, and all of the older collectors who never really knew how to grade to begin with - they can get away with it.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are simply not enough people like me left I guess, that do not find it acceptable. Or at least they don&#039;t voice their opinions often enough, and loudly enough, to have an impact on what the TPG&#039;s do.</p><p><br /></p><p>I for one find it sad that the grading of coins has become what it has. Too many people have either forgotten, or never knew.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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