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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ksparrow, post: 2094547, member: 7638&quot;]This thread made me think of the Wells Fargo Hoard, 19,900 NM 1908 SAints brought back from Europe to the US in the 1990&#039;s. According to Gillio, the coins were a payment made in 1917, and the coins sat in the vault in the original bags until the 1960&#039;s, when the coins were removed from the rotting bags and put into new canvas ones. Until the bags were opened for Gillio, that was the ONLY time the coins were moved since 1917. Eventually, about 7000 of the coins graded 66 or higher (up to 69) by 1990&#039;s standards. There were many thousand 65 gems.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Looking at the auction records for 1908 MS saints, at Heritage, ogling a number of the WF hoard coins, I just don&#039;t see high point friction. I just don&#039;t. I did not look at every one (there are thousands).&nbsp; Now suppose those coins had been removed and stacked and counted every few years, or put in cashier&#039;s drawers and then back in the bag for storage, or just held and thumb rubbed by a teller who thought they were pretty?&nbsp; That behavior, otherwise known as handling, will lead to high point friction, and as far as I am concerned that makes for an AU coin, period. I don&#039;t think certain series should be given a &quot;by&quot; in the grading room just because they are &quot;friction prone.&quot;&nbsp; (should we call them &quot;differently abled coins?&quot;)</p><p>&nbsp; Graders are humans and subject to variation in their behavior.&nbsp; They are also not immune to markets, perceptions of demand, etc, and with the tendency of TPG&#039;s to &quot;value grade&quot; coins it does not surprise me that there is a general slackening of standards.&nbsp;&nbsp; Recently I was sent an attractive seated coin on approval, it was in a new pcgs holder graded au 58.&nbsp; I was surprised that no more than about 30% of the mint luster was present, and yet the devices showed no discernible wear.&nbsp; The only conclusion I could come to was that the fields had been polished for some reason.&nbsp; My point is that as collectors it very important for us to study the coins before we buy them and not to rely on the the slab grade, or even the tpg&#039;s opinion that the coin has not been &quot;improved upon.&quot;&nbsp; Discerning collectors are the best protection the hobby has against overgrading/overpricing.&nbsp; &nbsp; Take a look at auction results sometime, I&#039;m sure there will be a coin or 2 that will make you say &quot;boy, that went cheap&quot;&nbsp; or &quot;wow, that sold for over twice what I would expect.&quot; Most of the time these unexpected prices realized are because someone knew that the coin had a hidden problem, or that it was really choice for the assigned grade. </p><p>Studying those can be educational. (of course sometimes it&#039;s just &#039;buyer error&#039; but I think those cases are in the minority.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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