Having lived through the era of TPGS starting out, to the CAC etc. systems, I will input that the main force behind these systems becoming popular is their focus is to take advantage of the psychological need of humans to have an "expert" put their stamp of approval onto something.
When the internet came into being,
ebay aided faith in these companies b/c "everyone else was doing it."
The TPGs were started by self-proclaimed experts.
- The people I was associated with then believed slabbing to be a total con game while asking the common sense question of, "why do I need to pay someone to tell me what I can do for myself?"
- Slabbing did not take off in foreign countries b/c, as I have seen even here on CCF, the above, common sense sentiment was cited. And sometimes I even hear foreigners surprised Americans are foolish enough to give these companies money. When you don't have as much disposable income as the US did back then, you think more intently on every penny you spend. However, and fortunately for the TPGs, internet sales and the influx of Chinese fakes (which have also been found in slabs) help the TPGs manufactured reputations.
Point to ponder: Do you think the TPGs would spearhead legislature to stop Chinese fakes considering the loss of money/sales it would bring them?
There is no one who will rally around the object of their faith than those individuals who put their hard earned cash behind their faith. Hence as years went/go by, when people who fed/feed these companies are confronted with indisputable facts, these people cringe and have a gut reaction to argue against it.
What facts?
- The companies graders get paid by piecework - this means the close scrutiny the TPGs want us to believe they take with each coin is not exactly truthful. I have to look it up again - so someone please correct me, but what was it... less than 30 seconds a coin?
- People can crack out the same coin and resubmit until it gets the higher grade and (therefore) assigned "value" they want. This used to be pretty common in practice with a borderline coin if the better grade could increase profits by thousands of dollars.
- Talking with former
TPG graders: My local LCS owner (former police officer) who graded for them years ago, claiming he got out b/c he saw the reality of the system was not what was claimed - his words? "A scam." These exact sentiments were voiced by a former well-known dealer (retired) and good friend of mine who owned a large business when I was as a teen.
- These men also said because the TPGs are not accountable by saying WHY they give a coin the grade they do - it means they can keep up the scam.
- These men also said when polling other large dealers who send in monster boxes of
ASE's, its a consistent 20% that come back as MS70. They are convinced the TPGs randomly pull out 20% of the coins and the rest are given MS69s. The one dealer told me to start looking at MS70 slabs and not be surprised you can find small dings on them (which I did).
More tangible data:
- It is not hard to find numerous posts online about mistakes these TPGS make. Here on CCF you can find wrong labels; fingerprints added to coins at the
TPG; great grades on damaged coins; coins broken from one
TPG's slab, submitted to another
TPG and getting a totally different grade (this should not be if coin experts are truly what they say and as solid an object of faith as they claim to be); and the very existence of CAC blatantly proves the TPGs do not live up to the faith people put into them!
- So now the level of trust has moved onto the CAC experts. What makes them any different than the
TPG experts - except the CAC experts may possibly have less time collectively being "expert" since they are newer than the oldest
TPG!
- Yes, I can imagine CAC experts do back up their "work" with their own money. They know if they put a sticker on a slab, the populace will spend more money for it: win-win.
I perceive the true success of these companies is from:
1. The perceived "need" of the masses to have an "expert" (and now a "better" expert) put their mark onto something to make it "official." How long will it be before we need an even better, better expert's opinion/mark? Thirty years? Forty years?
2. Newbies coming into the already tainted hobby thinking TPGs are a vital part of numismatics b/c they have not looked to find the facts. They believe every submitted coin is carefully scrutinized (I laughed at the PCGS video of a group of men sitting around a table discussing the grade of a
Morgan dollar).
3. The TPGs keep coming up with marketable items to play on the public psychologically again such as the "First Strike" issue scam which has been shown to be nothing but a way to make money.
4. The TPGS keep coming up with ways to make themselves prominent in the eyes of collectors such as photograde and their libraries of information (Some good stuff in there though!).
5. Starting things like the contest (of sorts) to see who can assemble the best registered sets with their company.
I will start to respect TPGs for what them claim to be when they start becoming accountable. But becoming accountable will kill their own business - which is why I theorize they don't use computers to analyze/grade coins according to preset standards. If the phone in your pocket has face recognition, surely multi- million dollar companies could make such a system (Pssst! They had it in the 90s!). But you would still need a human to add or detract a point or so for eye appeal.
Having said all of that, I did find one use for slabs that was worth me feeding the beast. If I suddenly pass, the few coins I had slabbed will catch the attention of my family so they know not to dump them at the bank. These coins were special ones given to me by my grandfather and are special.
And again - if a person likes the fun of collecting slabs and stickers - go for it! Hobbies are about fun, and they sure do look purty!
Buy the coin, not the plastic and its pretty green sticker!
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Posted 05/16/2017 10:16 pm
