Coin Grading Companies, Who's Elite, And Who Is A Joke?

After reading that quote, I would discount everything else stated by that dealer. There are not "hundreds of grading companies", not even close. There may be hundreds of unethical dealers entombing their own inventory in clamshell plastic with inflated grades and problems galore but that does not make them a TPG, just a dealer peddling a big ol' heaping helping of conflict on interest. The only legit US TPGs currently in business would be PCGS, NGC, ANACS, ICG, and SEGS. Some would not include SEGS due to their lesser reputation but they do have known experts on staff and do accept public submissions, two hallmarks of a TPG.



Another wildly exaggerated claim, there is no way those two coins have the exact same grade with that kind of price disparity. Sounds like this guy would be right at home on a used car lot, complete with oil puddles and duct tape holding the bumper on the car...just as good a new Cadillac but for 1/10 the price!

Which is exactly why I am not into graded coins and never will be. That part of coin collecting is one where you can do well IF you know a LOT about coins. If you don't, then you will not do so well. In this, it is a bit like fishing... where 5% of the fishermen catch 95% of the fish... BECAUSE THEY KNOW HOW!

It looks like the fish in the first picture is eating your hand lol

Well I cant speak for NGC or PCGS but I have sent morgans to ANACS because they will VAM them for you, I should be happy about the grades they assign them, but in my eye they come back over graded.

First I want to say your seller is a silver tongued rascal. there is no right or wrong answer to this question. If its not PCGS,NGC or ANACS you should know how to grade yourself and bid as if those coins in the other grading companies slabs are raw (Ungraded) so you can get your money back if sold just on the merits of the coin in the plastic. The only real difference is PCGS and the others were made to be traded sight unseen and the others will never be traded by anyone with knowledge of coins sight unseen because just going by ANA standards (not PCGS standards as your seller talks about) Those other companies that call a coin MS-6 may actually be a AU-58 by ANA standards and you would never be able to send those coins in to these bottom tier slabbers for guarantee of grade as you can with the big 3 I mentioned above. The bottom tiered have their place and benefit for those that can grade but its not something I would ever advise for the new collector because they will end up with a million dollar collection that is actually worth a thousand dollars when going by the coins merits and what the grade should have been

Now about the fish, one of my best friends father used to be a guide at Santee Cooper in SC and I have seen some HUGE catfish come out of that body of water. My buddy was about 6 foot tall and there was one he held straight out (so about shoulder high) and the tail drug the ground and weighed about 73lbs. We were 15 at the time so a 73lb cat fish caught by a 15 year old was pretty huge even though it wasnt a record caught there. I have heard of 90-100lb fish coming from there now and I don't doubt it one bit. Nothing like this 646lb fresh water cat fish but still a big fish in its own right

Bryan, that is a Mekong catfish, via Vietnam and Cambodia. They don't each meat believe it or not, so they are usually caught in nets or snagged. The largest predator cats I know of, Amazon river, one species starts with a P, yellow and huge 600 plus sometimes, and the red tails. Jeremy Wade on that monster fish show is the true master, as he will set for days for like Wels cats (another true predator known to eat small pets and children and older people, mostly found in Spain, Russia, and France) a trait one must have to catch fish this size, patience the number one thing....

Great story from the legendary Santee Cooper, I have heard much stories form that body of water. I actually used to post on a fishing board years back when I caught most of those cats, 2000-2005 as I have been working and playing ice hockey which has consumed much of my time over the last 6 years. Anyhow, on that board BOC (brotherhood of catfish), they had an under water camera set up down by the dam operating on Santee Cooper, and you could watch the big cats swim by live, lol....

By the way Bryan, the World record channel cat is 52 pounds caught on Santee Cooper (channel cats don't get as big as blue cats and flatheads down south, but they do up north in the Red river, say 35 to 40 pounds, no comp from the other two), caught out of Santee Cooper way back in either 50's or 60's, and the current Flathead world record is 123 pounds caught on a Zebco 12 pound test (they say), below a Dam in K.C. Missouri. The world record blue keeps changing, as I have seen it go from 112 pounds (Cumberland gap just north of me), to 121 pounds on lake Texoma (huge Oklahoma/Texas border lake), to 124 pounds from the Mississippi and now it is like over 132 pounds, again the Mississippi river....

My largest Flathead is about 60 pounds, and my largest blue cat is pictured above, the one with my big grin and I have it in a head lock, and there is another side shot of it as well, and it weighed 55 pounds. I have caught countless 20 to 40 pounder, mostly all from the bank, between 11 and 3 in the morning....

One day I would like to join the 100 pound freshwater club....

Ms-70 grade I am sure is an exaggeration, but the fish pictures are real, lol. That is why I always carried a camera, as no one believes a fishermen....