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Message:: [QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 179392, member: 112"]I agree, it is very sad that this is happening. But do you understand why it's happening and why the TPGs are so successful ? Because the majority of those who are buying the coins don't know any better. They don't know how to accurately grade, they don't know how to tell if a coin has been altered, cleaned, damaged, artificially toned, tooled, has added mint marks or the like. And many of them don't know that all grading companies are not equal - they think that NTC, SGS and the like are just as good as NGC & PCGS. In other words, all of these people are willing to pay more for a slabbed coin because of the expert opinion of the TPG. Because they want the TPG to tell them all the things they don't know.  Because they want the sense of security that they are spending or have already spent their money wisely. Because they don't want to gamble, they don't want the risk, they want to sleep at night. But mostly, it's because they want to be able to sell the coins for all they can get. Because they do know that most other collectors out there are just like them - they don't know either. But there is also something else that few realize - there are many raw coins that are sold for the same price a slabbed example is sold for. Of course these coins are sold to people who do know how to do all the things that the TPGs do for others.[/QUOTE]