Coins are purchased from a variety of sources:

*Dedicated Auction (Brick & Mortar) Houses

*Online non-dealer Auction Websites

*Dealer Websites

*Dealer Auctions and website Auctions

*Direct Dealer Interaction or Dealer afar transactions

*Commercial Merchandise Auction Website

*Live Yearly Coin Exhibitions: City/State Shows

*Coin Club Shows

*And Many More

What they have in common is the usage of coin imagery.

Back to the issue: the coin image is the vehicle we rely on to tell the truth about the coin so we can make a judgement for its purchase.Did you ever see an AU58 in a slab graded MS64? I certainly have seen manysuch coins.The problem of who graded the coin is a separate issue not addressed here. I have seen coins that did belong in their assigned graded holder.I have bought coins that appeared properly graded in their holder from coin imagery that had been deliberately, visually, obfuscated to hide the defects and grade designation.I have had to photograph such a coin and to send it as a side by side image comparison to the dealer. It was an unfortunate dealer to receive evidence of what was real and what was fake. Here is what the coin looked like to mycamera.That brings us to the collector-dealer interaction which is the subject of this journal entry.To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.