Is judging one the same as the other

I have been reading multiple journals lately where some collectors are becoming disillusioned with the grading process.

My wife and I show dogs in AKC competition rings and naturally there is a judge to decide or "pick" the winner. We have been showing dogs for a few years now and when we started we defined the term "novice". But through MANY entries into MANY shows we finally passed the learning curve phase and started to become successful. Now mind you, it is somewhat expensive to travel to the city where the dog show is, pay entry fees, pay for your hotel room for 3 days, food, dog supplies etc. (are you seeing the coorelation). During our learning years and even today we keep a "log" of how we did with each judge. We now have an pretty good idea on the upcoming shows and if we should enter based on the past performance of a particular judge. Although they are supposed to "judge" to a standard, there is always some that don't. Some like a certain cut as opposed to another on the same breed. We have even seen "winners" picked because of the handler and the relationship the judge has with them. (like submitters of coins) If you were to ask them, they of course would deny this and say they judge to the stated AKC standard.

Now more to my point. As you know, I am an advocate of ONLY buying graded coins and I've made it clear the pro's to doing this. Part of my research in determining my final stand was when I submitted an inexpensive graded PF70 coin (graded by 2 of the top 4 grading companies and it came back PF69 by NGC.

So if anyone would be willing, that lives close to a major submitter to NGC, would take one of their coins that came back ungraded, or below what your research implied, and take it to them (major submitter) and have them submit it with their weekly shipment, I would not be the least surprised to find out that it acheived the grade you thought it should have in the first place. Just like some of the professional handlers we encountered in the show ring, the major players have more clout than you or I do and receive preferential treatment in the grading of their coins. I do not live near a major submitter or I would of done this along with my other research to solidify my stand on graded ONLY coins. If someone does this, please keep us posted as to the results.

Good luck in filling that empty slot

Moondoggy