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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 904672, member: 112&quot;]Yes Tom, I am very well aware of everything you wrote. I have read the ANA guide, all of the editions, many times, cover to cover. And I have pointed out in various discussions many of the same things you pointed out. </p><p><br /></p><p>However, and this entire discussion really boils down to one point, that point being the original question asked - Should a significant mark in a prime focal area prevent a gem grade? </p><p><br /></p><p>On this 1 point both of the written guides we have are quite specific - the answer is no. I really don&#039;t think that that point is debatable.</p><p><br /></p><p>Like you, and I think just about anybody else that knows how to grade coins, I also base my grade on the coin as a whole. That is a generality. But when guidelines are given regarding a specific point such as what limits are placed on a coin being worthy of a 65 grade or not - then I think it is a huge mistake for anyone to completely disregard those guidelines. It does the hobby harm to do so. Familiarity breeds acceptance. That is where gradeflation comes from. </p><p><br /></p><p>And as you say, the ANA guide reports what the market considers the grading standards to be. And it clearly reports what those standards are regarding the original question - and thus the answer. So since it reports what the standards are in the marketplace, since it reports the standards that are in use - then shouldn&#039;t we use them ?</p><p><br /></p><p>For when we start making excuses, when we start trying to justify our reasoning for assigning a higher grade, when we ignore the established standards and make exceptions - then we go down a path that will lead us to ruin.</p><p><br /></p><p>To be quite honest with you, I think that what the TPGs do today is what the public wants. In other words, they don&#039;t grade the coins according to standards anymore - theirs or anybody else&#039;s. They assign the grades that the public wants their coins to be graded at. Collectors don&#039;t want their coin in VF35 - they want XF40 or 45. They don&#039;t want MS63, they want that coin to come back MS64 or 65.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s why we have problem coins in slabs today. That&#039;s why we have over-graded coins in slabs today. That is the problem with the grading industry today - they no longer follow the standards - even their own. </p><p><br /></p><p>And you&#039;ve been around long enough to know this. You&#039;ve been around long enough to see this. And I can even recall when you have made many of the same complaints that I do.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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