1853/2 $20 Gold....it's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know

I received another response which took a little longer to arrive. She said "There can sometimes be a fine line between what is acceptable for a numeric grade and want warrants an NGC Details grade. In this case, the submitter cracked the coin out of the old holder with the NGC Details grade and resubmitted it to NGC. When the graders reviewed the coin in its second submission, they felt that its condition was a bit better than the assessment by the graders who reviewed it the first time."

What she said is accurate while at the same time saying that they basically messed up the first time. If they really messed up the second time we'll never know it, but they did own up to it regardless (while trying to justify it as being a fine line mistake). Just goes to show that when you're spending that kind of money you need to know as much as the professional graders do. I have a long way to go for sure. If I was the original seller, I'd be pretty mad. In fact, I think they'd have a pretty good case for taking NGC up on their guarantee. If NGC wouldn't pay, I think they would have a pretty good case in court. I'm glad I'm watching this one from the sidelines and it's not my money.

As expected - the TPG will cover their 'A double Q' and the seller will try to defend their actions .... I agree with SDave ... I sent a 'message' to TNFC relating their unethical practice.

In truth, many of the Newman coins were treated pretty generously by NGC. This is the opposite case, though, and I'd be curious as to their reaction to photographic evidence that the coin was altered between submissions.

Let me modify his statement somewhat to compensate for his modesty. It should read, "I've been a pretty bigtime dealer myself for almost half a century and I've forgotten more about how the system works than most readers have ever learned."

You're hearing truth here.

Characterizing all this as a conspiracy theory is a bit overboard - not that I'm accusing anyone of such. It's more like a business doing what in the best interests of the business, taking care of their best customers. I suspect it somewhat evolved from believing that your better customers are more likely to have the chops to only submit "good" coins. I wouldn't expect a "system in place" for taking care of them, more an unwritten rule which can be invoked perhaps by - for instance - how the coins arrive at the grader. If someone walks up with a full tray of nice stuff, one might reasonably assume they all came from the same place.

I really feel like g048406 may perhaps have phrased all this in a way which detracts from the very real problem he's trying to illuminate.

Yeah, if it exists at all that's my read on it, too.