Grading Services Prior to the TPGs?

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

ANACS' website says they are the oldest TPG starting in 1972. Before TPGs began were there other grading services provided by individuals or other groups like the ANA?

 

I'm too young to remember and don't know exactly what to search for.

[Raisethis2]

ANACS was the first company to encapsulate coins after grading. I believe there were others such as Photograde that graded but just put the coins in flips with a certificate and photos of obverse, reverse. As I recall this was just prior to the slabbing period and was ANACS handywork also.

 

Back in the very early days coins were graded as "choice uncirculated" "gem uncirculated" "AU" and so on.

 

Sheldon created the 70 point grading system in 1949.

[Conder101]

The question is redundant. It effectively is asking "Were there third party grading services before there were third party grading services?"

 

ANACS was the first commercial grading service*. Before they began grading they only offered an opinion on authenticity. There were other firms that offered authenticity opinions before ANACS started grading, but the founding of ANACS predated them as well.

 

* There were actually two firms that did grading before ANACS. One was a South African firm SAGSE that only graded proof Kruggerands (they also slabbed them pre-dating slabs in the US by almost 9 years). The other only graded currency, Hallmark. (Not to be confused with the three later coin grading companies that used the name Hallmark.) The Hallmark currency grading firm predated the later currency grading firms by around 20 years.

 

 

Sheldon created the 70 point grading system in 1949

Sheldon created a PRICING system for early date large cents in 1949 and appended it to the EXISTING grading scale. They had nothing to do with grading, and were not applicable for anything other than the early date cents. By 1970 even the copper specialists had pretty much discarded them . While the numbers on the Sheldon pricing system had a purpose, in today's system it is just a second name for a given condition level.

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

I guess that I really meant to ask if there were people providing grading services before there was a large enough market to make a business out of it.

[Conder101]

There have been people (dealers) willing to give you an opinion about the grade and autenticity of your coin since there have been coin dealers. All you had to do was ask. Sometimes the opinion would be free, maybe on occasion they would ask a small fee. But as far as I know there was no one doing it as a primary business or advertising to do it as a service. If there had been that would have made him a Third Party Grading Service and you are back to "was there a TPG before there were TPG's"

[TonerGuy]

There have been people (dealers) willing to give you an opinion about the grade and autenticity of your coin since there have been coin dealers. All you had to do was ask. Sometimes the opinion would be free, maybe on occasion they would ask a small fee. But as far as I know there was no one doing it as a primary business or advertising to do it as a service. If there had been that would have made him a Third Party Grading Service and you are back to "was there a TPG before there were TPG's"

 

I suppose David Hall Rare Coins would fit into this niche though.

 

Wasnt he sealing his graded flips - thus creating somewhat of a marketable service beyond just the initial buyer of the coin ?

[MarkFeld]

There have been people (dealers) willing to give you an opinion about the grade and autenticity of your coin since there have been coin dealers. All you had to do was ask. Sometimes the opinion would be free, maybe on occasion they would ask a small fee. But as far as I know there was no one doing it as a primary business or advertising to do it as a service. If there had been that would have made him a Third Party Grading Service and you are back to "was there a TPG before there were TPG's"

 

I suppose David Hall Rare Coins would fit into this niche though.

 

Wasnt he sealing his graded flips - thus creating somewhat of a marketable service beyond just the initial buyer of the coin ?

 

Based on my experience working for him as a buyer (from late 1985-1988?) he generally provided a two way market for his coins he sold in sealed flips - at least for clients who bought the coins from him. I don't recall if dealers who later ended up with such coins received the same treatment.

[RWB]

In the 1970s there were several specialty coin dealers who put coins into flips or sealed plastic 2x2 after the buyer made his purchase. If the coin remained in the sealed package, they would readily buy it back at a minimum guaranteed price - without questions. I know first hand that Kam Ahwash did this, but I don't recall the names of others.

[Conder101]

Yes there were but of course those would be second party graders since they were part of the initial transaction.

[RWB]

True -- it was a way for a dealer to offer a better guarantee and it increased the dealer's options when collectors wanted to sell.

 

Younger collectors have to keep reminding themselves that authentication was, and remains, the primary problem. Everyone in the business knew that grading was subjective and one simply adjusted for the coin in-hand, not the adjectives in-mouth.