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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 3655324, member: 101855&quot;]All of us, who have some expertise in grading, can see that the TPGs are engaged in grade-flatiron. My goal has been to at least try to slow it down. If it continues at a rapid pace, we will come to the point that existed before the TPGs gained a significant place in the market. Standards will mean nothing, and the evil practice of buying in a lower grade and selling at a higher one will be in force.</p><p><br /></p><p>Before the TPGs really got going, “numismatic investment houses” bought shiny AU coins and sold them to unsuspecting buyers as “investment grade MS-65 pieces.” The people who bought this material got bilked out of millions of dollars collectively, the Federal Trade Commission stepped in, and the coin business ended up with a big black eye, which hurt everyone.</p><p><br /></p><p>For those who weren’t around in the 1980s, here’s an example. Some friends of my in-laws paid $3,000 for an “MS-65” 1921 Peace Dollar. Suspecting they had been cheated, they showed the piece to me. It was an AU coin that was worth about $125 at the time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another example. A dentist in Boston bought an “investment portfolio of coins.” He consigned them to a local bid wall, which got good prices, to salvage what he could out of the collection. The best buy he made was a 1911-D $2.50. He paid $4,300 and got back $3,200. I purchased one of the more typical examples. It was Shield Nickel in AU. I bought it for $45. He paid $1,550. I know this was true because I saw the invoices the man had gotten from the “investment house.” I don’t think that any of us would like to see this hobby go back to that period.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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