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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Analyst, post: 2051713, member: 29854&quot;]<i>BoneDigger: &lt;&lt;In your opinion do TPGs in general assign higher grades or give the benefit of the doubt to coins which come with well known prior owners? You know the pedigrees... &gt;&gt;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>GDJmsp: &lt;&lt;There is no doubt in my mind that they do. &gt;&gt;</i></p><p><br /></p><p>I am really not aware of evidence that they do. I have examined a great many of the Newman coins and patterns that were auctioned in Nov. 2013, Jan. 2014, May 2014 and Nov. 2014. I attended the auctions as well. My impression is that these received the same grades from NGC as they would have if they had surfaced in a collection owned by a relatively unknown collector. Regardless of varying opinions about NGC grading, I believe that I have a considerable understanding of how Mark and other NGC graders analyze coins. I maintain that Newman coins and patterns were NOT deliberately overgraded or generously graded.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><a href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/fabulous-eric-newman-collection-part-7-gem-quality-early-u-s-silver-dollars/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/fabulous-eric-newman-collection-part-7-gem-quality-early-u-s-silver-dollars/" rel="nofollow">Newman&#039;s Gem Quality Early U.S. Silver Dollars were startling</a></b></p><p><br /></p><p>In my current article, Richard Burdick is quoted as pointing out that some Eliasberg and Pittman coins received rather generous grades in 1997 and 1998. These coins, though, received such grades AFTER the auctions; they were raw when auctioned.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><a href="http://www.coinweek.com/education/coin-grading/how-will-coin-collectors-interpret-certified-coin-grades-in-the-future/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinweek.com/education/coin-grading/how-will-coin-collectors-interpret-certified-coin-grades-in-the-future/" rel="nofollow">How will Coin Collectors Interpret Certified Coin Grades in the Future?</a></b></p><p><br /></p><p>For whatever reasons, an era of grade-inflation and coin doctoring started around 1997 and very much slowed down around 2007. During the 1996 to 1998 period, there was a concern that many wholesalers would lose large amounts of money if the TPGs did not assign the grades they were expecting to most of the Eliasberg and Pittman coins that were then submitted. Were &#039;big money&#039; wholesalers then in danger of going bankrupt? If so, would such bankruptcies have been harmful to the TPGs or to the coin business as a whole? What was going through the minds of TPG graders during this period? I raise these questions only to leave them. I do not have precise answers.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am aware of some auction oriented wholesalers being very scared circa 1998, but Eliasberg and Pittman each had an incredible number of classic U.S. coins that legitimately grade from 66 to 68. Indeed, those of us who attended the auctions were amazed by the quality of a large number of Eliasberg and Pittman coins. It is not fair or logical to conclude that pedigreed coins are more likely to be overgraded or generously graded than similar coins that do not have famous pedigrees.</p><p><br /></p><p>As to whether extremely rare and/or extremely famous individual coins are generously graded, that is a different topic.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><a href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/1804-silver-dollar-sells-for-3-88-million-at-heritage-us-coin-auction/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/1804-silver-dollar-sells-for-3-88-million-at-heritage-us-coin-auction/" rel="nofollow">1804 Silver Dollar Sells for $3.88 Million in 2013</a></b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/coin-rarities-related-topics-the-top-ten-auction-records-for-coins-patterns/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/coin-rarities-related-topics-the-top-ten-auction-records-for-coins-patterns/" rel="nofollow">Click to see: The Top Ten Auction Records for Coins &amp; Patterns</a></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><a href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/coin-rarities-related-topics-ultra-high-relief-saint-gaudens-20-gold-pattern-realizes-2-76-million/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/coin-rarities-related-topics-ultra-high-relief-saint-gaudens-20-gold-pattern-realizes-2-76-million/" rel="nofollow">Trompeter-Morse, Ultra High Relief Saint Gaudens $20 Gold Pattern </a></b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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