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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jody526, post: 110132, member: 578&quot;]I wouldn&#039;t &quot;submit&quot; any of those coins to a TPG.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s an article worth reading, before you decide to enter into the realm of TPG...</p><p><br /></p><p>Article written by Q. David Bowers</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;I suggest that you take nothing for granted, but be aware that even though numbers such as MS-61, MS-65, etc. have a scientific or mathematical ring to them, they are not precise determinants of market value. I consider this statement to be one of the most important in this text. </p><p><br /></p><p>Many grading services have been created during the past decade or so. These are businesses, run for a profit, which for a fee give an opinion as to the grade of a coin. Often there is a sliding fee schedule, with fast turnaround costing several times more than normal service (which in busy periods can take up to several months). </p><p><br /></p><p>As noted, grading was, is, and probably always will be a matter of opinion. So far as I have been able to determine, grading services, computers, and wishful thinking will not change this seemingly immutable fact. As an example, I quote from a study conducted by Kevin Foley, editor of The Centinel, official journal of the Central States Numismatic Society. He sent 10 different coins to four different professional grading services. On not a single coin did the four services agree on the grade, and for one coin, a 1919 Standing Liberty quarter, professional opinions ranged all the way from AU-55 to MS-65. </p><p><br /></p><p>In my office is a Morgan silver dollar which was sent to the same grading service on three different occasions and each time was returned with a different grade. </p><p><br /></p><p>In one of our auction sales a $10 gold piece was offered. The purchaser later sent it to a grading service, and it was returned with the notation: &quot;Damaged, cannot be certified.&quot; Neither the purchaser nor I could see any traces of damage, therefore the coin was re-sent to the same service. Apparently someone else at the service saw it the second time around, for it came back certified, in a slab, with no mention of any damage, and at a grade 10 points higher than it was listed in our auction catalogue! </p><p><br /></p><p>The late Norman Stack, the well-known dealer, showed me a Liberty Head $20 piece which he sent four times to grading services and had it returned in slabs marked with grades of MS-61, MS-62, MS-63, and MS-64. Harvey Stack, CEO of Stack&#039;s, tells of sending a gold dollar to a grading service, having it certified as AU-50, then sending it back to the same service, after which resubmission it &quot;improved&quot; to MS-60. What was a worn coin the first time around now was Uncirculated!&quot; </p><p><br /></p><p>***********************</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;I thought you might find this interesting and informative.&nbsp; While everything that I have heard leads me to believe that the grading companies started out with good intentions; just like everything else, it seems that &quot;greed&quot; got the better part of them, and it&#039;s a shame, because there are a number of legitimate reasons that collector&#039;s need an &quot;unbiased&quot; opinion at times.&nbsp; However, they cannot convince me that their opinions are unbiased, even if I could believe that they took the time to look at each and every coin that passes through their hands.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>They cannot possibly be &quot;unbiased&quot;, and just as Mr. Bowers pointed out, they are strictly a &quot;for profit&quot; business, and the bottom line is money, profits, and greed.&nbsp; It is my opinion, for whatever that may be worth, that the coin grading companies are the one single most tragedy to ever happen in the world of coin collecting; and the largest &quot;scam&quot; out there......the most frustrating fact is that some individuals need their services, and there is no where else for them to go;&nbsp; and furthermore, it is nearly impossible to try to explain this to the individual who believes in the grading companies, just how &quot;unprofessional they really are!!&nbsp; I am just as certain that is becuase of all of the coin dealers out there who take advantage of the collector, and especially so if they are new at coin collecting.....So, there you have it, one group of scam artists judging the other group, and meanwhile, the poor individual who just wants to put together a nice collection of coins, is the one who pays the price all the way around.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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