My original thesis was that Marquis coins get preferential treatment but I could not leave well enough alone...

I am glad that we got the discussion that we got. 21 people felt it worth their time to write a response and over 200 views. The original Title was "Marquis coins get a pass from PCGS" Then I changed it to "Is this fair grading? See the grade PCGS gave and guess who submitted it."

The point made by Mark on his posting was a good one. It did not escape my attention that the holder was an middle generation PCGS holder. It is NOT a BLUE (recent label) nor GREEN (OLD) but blackk print on a white background with the bar code. This dates the slab to the 2004 to 2008 time frame. The consequence of that as pointed out bluntly pointed out by Kaiser14 is that Stacks could not have submitted the coin for grading.

But to Kaiser14 don't through the baby out with the bath water. The title was what would you grade this coin. The primary thesis if you will was that Marquis coins seem to get the benefit of the doubt in the grading process. Another way to look at the same thing is that both PCGS and NGC and ANACS and PCI want Marquis coins in their holders. Duh...

I made a side comment about the auction house and in fairness probably should've saved that for a separate post. But here we are. Remembering back to my first Heritage auction experience in Santa Clara in 1998 my experience has been that coins graded by auction houses tend to get the benefit of the doubt. No I'm not talking about a conspiracy. Coins fairly graded AU55 are not being put in MS65 holders.

But for Kaiser14, I will present the second half of my thesis more clearly and as an opinion. When I send in a coin like this its returned details grade CORROSION. When an organization that measures its revenue stream in 100s of millions of dollars submits the same coin it is viewed as Fine 15 with a granular surface. For them scratch or even gouge become contact marks. You get the picture. My opinion only!

I am not opining that there is a great conspiracy but rather this is simple economics. Sure the grading is blinded. But when a coin is number 140 of 750 it's not too hard to figure out that you're dealing with a major player and not a small time collector or even dealer. Simple economics. Kaiser14 is America and for better or worse the hobby that we love is based on a thesis of Capitalism. And just to throw more fecal matter in the air the same coin graded at 11 AM on a Monday may get a different level of scrutiny than a coin that finishes the process at 4:59 PM on Friday, its just life.

Thanks for the great discussion

John

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