What's wrong with the Grading Companies?

[coop]

START YOUR OWN GRADING COMPANY!!!!!!!

Like these guys:

[Amadauss]

Well at least their colors are better then ANACS coop.

I never said it would be easy, and Chris I know you make a good living doing what you do and the rest on the site I am sure are doing ok, but I ran a D&B on the top three and you can't imagine what those guys are making. I think a lot more then most. They have no overhead so to speak. Their EBITDA is very very good.

[liveandievarieties]

Millions of dollars in marketing just to get your name out there would be considered overhead, not to mention the cost of producing a comparably secure slab, as well as employees (both administrative and graders), business liscense and insurance, office space rent, the cost of having to send reps to major shows....

I say you make a go of it Mike. You've got 100% of my moral support.

[SuddenAdoration]

Hi Chris,
I have been keeping up on this thread and briefly mentioned this topic and shared the link with KPCC / NPR (World News) radio. They gave me a link to submit this problem to their editors for discussion on air if you are interested. That would be a great way to have the grading companies wake up... just pm me if you want to move forward

[liveandievarieties]

Wow Karah, I'd like to see where that goes. PM sent.

[foundinrolls]

This is not only unfair, but it suggests that the people responsible for assigning grades to quite valuable coins have no idea what they are doing.

I didn't say that:-)...Oh. Yeah, Many error coins are not correctly ID'd either. That I said.

That's why it's a waste. I've even seen counterfeit coins in good slabs although, I must say that it has been a long time since I've seen an out an out fake.

[cimperialis]

I don't usually get into the mix of these sorts of thread, mostly because I'm still learning the politics of numismatics and because Chris posts my thoughts anyway.

Here's my take: PCGS et al. started in order to service collectors. The companies began expanding, competing, and making lots of profit. Now they're hooked on maximizing profit, and are slipping on delivering decent quality service.

The problem with the grading companies can be paralleled to any historical event where an authority became increasingly unsatisfactory for the people. Eventually the people demand change and either the authority gives in or is overthrown. It sounds like the NPR news story may be a good way to tell the grading companies that change is necessary.

[coulsonmd]

I have 3 very scarce Lincoln cents that I grade at MS67. I cannot get MS67 money for them unless they are slabbed as MS67. What are the chances of a TPG grading them MS67? Not very good odds! Nobody will pay me for MS67 coins UNLESS they are slabbed. (Catch 22) No, that's not a grade....

[foundinrolls]

Eric raises a fantastic point- I've seen FRESH fingerprints on the obv and reverse of my Gem freshly slabbed coins. Now explain that????

Even had debris and hairs sealed inside the slab.

I've seen fragments of potato chips or cheeze doodles inside slabs.

[mikediamond]

I'm constantly exposing the failures of the major grading services in my Collector's Clearinghouse column. It's not because I have a vendetta against them, it's because their mistakes are legion and impossible to ignore. I hope that, in some small way, I've educated collectors that they should be very skeptical of anything printed on a slab label.

[coppercoins]

The thread I started (http://www.lincolncentresource.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19550) was in no way a response to this thread, but the ideas I've had and the service I am working on providing should at least cover some of the issues encountered by attempting to have grading services do die variety and error attribution. They are more inclined toward grading, and are a lot less inclined to serve the error/variety market as a whole. What I am working on offering at least in-part will solve this issue by certifying die varieties and by verifying that the grading services got them right. Just saying.

[liveandievarieties]

I couldn't agree more-

It's my sincerest hopes that this project gains great acceptance in our community. In the last couple of years, I've had great issue with many of the attributions I've received back from ANACS. In November I got back a group of varieties that were attributed more in depth than even I'd requested. I was very pleased with the work. Soon after, it came to light that Chuck had done the attribution work for ANACS. I fully expect that anything certified by CopperCoins will be of the same high standard.

[coppercoins]

Well believe me, we are working daily toward having the mess of data tables and code in the back end of coppercoins actually come together to produce output that will make this a reality. I expect that what we are doing will work very shortly after implementing it in test because I have a really efficient, intelligent, and hard working crew on this project. I couldn't be happier with the progress we have made to date, and I am sure that anyone who has experienced the troubles you have with the professional grading services will be tickled and thrilled to have this service available to them. On to working on the code, rules, graphics, submission forms, data, testing, buying supplies, testing, blah, blah, blah.

[papascoins]

Fantastic!!!