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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 19587, member: 57463&quot;]Allow me to post a few tangential observations:</p><p><br /></p><p>There is way too much talk about &quot;bottom feeders&quot; and &quot;fourth tier&quot; companies.&nbsp; I have written in defense of Alan Hager who has been the target of a lot of abuse from these tyros and their paradigmatic &quot;consumer advocates&quot; who run for ANA Board slots.&nbsp; Alan Hager&#039;s marketing strategies and tactics might not instill you with a sense of confidence that you will get one over on him, but rather that he will have gotten one over on you.&nbsp; Even so, the fact is that people in the hobby with a lifetime of professional achievement admit that Alan Hager knows his coins.&nbsp; If you are known to him as a professional of merit and you ask him how the other companies will grade a coin, he will hit the nail on the head for you.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>There are many reasons why PCGS achieved the perception of being the preferred service.&nbsp; One of the reaons is that when Rick Montgomery was at PCGS, he adhered to a policy of correcting their mistakes.&nbsp; This actually meant that on the ANA bourse floor, a dealer known for his judgment could approach Montgomery with a coin and whine, &quot;Aww, Rick, look at this.&nbsp; How can I get 4 money for it? It&#039;s a mess and you know it.&quot;&nbsp; And Montgomery would have the coin reslabbed MS-63 or whatever.&nbsp; That carried a lot of weight with dealers, especially as they do business on the telephone with each other.&nbsp; They could count on PCGS&#039;s idea of a grade meeting everyone else&#039;s expectations. (Rick Montgomery is now at NGC, though he perhaps maintains some position as a stockholder with Collector&#039;s Universe, parent of PCGS.)</p><p><br /></p><p>That said, the fact remains that these grading companies see thousands of coins at a time.&nbsp; Their graders are employees who come and go.&nbsp; If you look at enough slabs, you will see perhaps obvious differences between the same grade for the same coin.&nbsp; It is unavoidable.&nbsp; That is one of the reasons that we say, &quot;Buy the coin, not the holder.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>One series that I happen to know from some experience and reading is the Mercury Dime.&nbsp; I shook my head at four PCGS slabbed MS-66 and MS-67 from 1942, 43, and 44.&nbsp; If this one is, then that one cannot be...</p><p><br /></p><p>Similarly, if you go to any ANA convention, you can find nice coins graded dead right center on by any or all of the services, top tier or twelfth.&nbsp; Whether you can sell the coin at the grade over the telephone to a dealer is a totally different question.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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