Conservative grade,very conservative,loose grade..

[Jp-migration]

How come I almost never hear "Correct Grade" ..Could it be that there is no correct grade or the right grade? Have the grading companies sold us a bill of goods?I know the term subjective is used all the time and I just can't see this as an excuse for not seeing the correct grade on a slab. The slab is here to stay and has improved the hobby but how can anyone decide the grade in 30 seconds.I know this is a useless post but I can't help it..

[Wihlborg]

Jp,

 

I think that most experienced collectors would agree that the top three grading companies do a very good job, and do get the grade right the vast majority of the time. I think the reason you hear mostly complaints and not compliments about a grade that was assigned to a coin is because it is human nature to complain when you believe you were wronged, but to remain silent if you are happy with the outcome of something.

 

Do the grading companies make mistakes from time to time? Sure, but IMO it is a very small percentage of the total amount of coins they grade, if it weren’t I believe third party grading would have ended years ago. Also, it really depends on who is complaining. Is the person doing the complaining an experienced collector who really knows how to grade coins, or is the person a newer collector who has not had years of experience grading coins? Without seeing the coin, I would tend to give much more credit to an experienced collector who believes the grade was incorrect than I would give an inexperienced one. Also, although most would not admit it, not all collectors are good graders regardless of how long they may have been collecting.

 

It takes a lot of skill to grade coins consistently, especially mint state coins, and it gets harder to grade consistently as the grades get higher.

 

Edited to correct a boneheaded spelling mistake.

 

John

 

[Wihlborg]

Jp,

 

One other point I would like to make is that probably most of the time you hear experienced collectors talking about coins that they have that are undergradeded, these are coins that they bought when their years of experience enabled them to recognize that these coins were undergraded by 1 or 2 points and that they should buy them, in effect cherry picking the grading companies mistakes.

 

In other words it was their confidence in their grading ability that let them ignore what was printed on the holders label, whereas a less experienced collector will tend to rely on the label rather than their grading skill.

 

John

 

[Hoot]

"...ignore what was printed on the holders label."

 

One of my favorite things to do!

 

(Gets me in trouble all the time )

 

Hoot

[Wihlborg]

"...ignore what was printed on the holders label."

 

One of my favorite things to do!

 

(Gets me in trouble all the time )

 

VERY true Hoot. A person could get into BIG trouble doing that!

 

John

[spy88]

Jp,

It takes a lot of skill to grade coins constantly, especially mint state coins, and it gets harder to grade constantly as the grades get higher.

 

I THINK John meant to say "...to grade coins consistently...", however "constantly" would also work for the statement. The TGSs graders do not have free reign to the amount of time to grade the coin in front of them. They probably go through quite a few in a days work! And I also agree with his statement regarding all the complaints you hear about and not the kudos that SHOULD go out to them for the job they do.

 

not all collectors are good graders regardless of how long they may have been collecting.

 

And the reverse is true. Not all graders are collectors, and although not a requirement, I would presume it an asset to their skills should they be.

 

David

[Wihlborg]

I THINK John meant to say "...to grade coins consistently..."

 

David, yes I did mean to write consistently. The embarrassing thing is that I used the wrong word twice!

Thanks for correcting my error.

 

John

 

 

[spy88]

Thinq no thing ofit, Kohn. I garintee! you willl have ampel opportunitees frum meyeselv in feature poles!

 

Dayvud

[Wihlborg]

 

John

[TomB]

At least you were consistent, John.

[Wihlborg]

Hey, yea, I never thought of it like that! I was consistent wasn’t I

 

Thanks Tom. Now I feel better!

 

John

 

[DonHeath]

One of the inherent advantages the professional graders have is simply the number of coins they see. I would think it safe to assume most professional graders have a fairly extensive background in numismatics prior to their hire. Add to that the tremendous number of examples of each date, denomination, and mint mark that they examine over a period of time and I would venture most collectors are certainly not similarly competent. Are there occasional misfires? Certainly. Despite the occasional snafu, these guys are good. No system is perfect, but this one comes pretty close, and the occasional misgrade (opportunity) keeps it pretty interesting.

[Leothelion]

What Don said! And furthermore, you can lose all your marbles from just trying to figure out why one coin graded the way it did when an identical coin graded higher or lower or vice versus or is it the other way around? What some grading companies would like you to do and that is, to place a blindfold over the eyes and don't worry about what the coin looks like. Accept the grade for what it is and take their word for it because ninety percent of the collectors out there don't know diddly about what one grade higher or lower looks like from the other.

I collect coins that look identical in strike, condition and luster. And sometimes a little color is nice as well. If one of my coins has a noticeable nick in one of the main focal areas then my entire collection has that nick and so I'll only need to upgrade so why buy the coin in the first place. Decide what you want in a coin, stick to your guns and spend your money wisely.

 

Leo

[LAWMAN-migration]

If $30 is the price, that's $1 per second.