Rant About PCGS's Absolutely Atrocious Misattributions

Does anyone else feel like PCGS's pathetic misattributions are really bad for the hobby? Many non-experts buy slabbed coins when it comes to errors and varieties specifically because it can be daunting as a novice to pony up hundreds of dollars for a valuable variety coin meant to start your collection when you don't yet know enough about things like RPMs and doubled dies to protect yourself from the many unscrupulous ebay scammers out there.

That's why I was really horrified when I was just browsing the PCGS page for the valuable 1972 FS-104 LMC and found that of the 9 coins used as examples (three coins each for the Brown, Red/Brown, and Red grades), only 6 of them were actually correctly attributed! Let's go through them and identify their mistakes.

Here we have the Brown coins.
https://www.PCGS.com/coinfacts/coin...-54-bn/38020
As you can see, they start off well. The banner coin is correctly IDed, as is the second from the looks of it. Then we get to the third. Holy moly, this is where the major screw-ups begin. The third coin is very clearly NOT the valuable FS-104. It's way too dramatic of a DDO for that, with far too much separation on the I of IGWT. This coin appears to me to be either the far, far less valuable FS-102 or FS-107, each worth somewhere on the order of $30-50 in this MS63 BN - a good bit less than even 1/10 of the $775 estimate PCGS gives for the 104 in the same condition.

Next up is the Red/Brown listing.
https://www.PCGS.com/coinfacts/coin...-54-rb/38021

Again, the banner coin looks correctly IDed to me. Good job. Pat yourselves on the backs, PCGS. Unfortunately, the second coin is not as well IDed. The spread on this MS64 RD/BN is far too minor for the 104. This is the not-particularly desirable FS-105, which PCGS estimates at a $100 coin in this condition (compare that to the $2100 estimate they give for the FS-104 in this condition, and then factor in that we know from this picture alone that at least 1/3 of all known MS64 RD/BN FS-104s attributed by PCGS have been misidentified, and then ask yourself how much more the real coin might be worth if not for these screw ups).

Finally, let's take a look at the Red coins.
https://www.PCGS.com/coinfacts/coin...-54-rd/38022
This one is the most egregious yet. The banner coin - one of only 4 MS66 RD 1972 FS-104 Lincoln Cents ever attributed by PCGS, and part of the top pop for condition - is a misattributed FS-107. An FS-107 in this condition is estimated at a respectable $560. The FS-104 is estimated at a staggering $5750. And, again, this $5750 estimate is based on a population of 4, yet we now know from this picture alone that 1/4 of those MS66 RD FS-104s are in fact misattributed FS-107s. Awful.

I just wanted to make this post because I really feel like the hobby is badly let down by services like these that first of all charge such ridiculous additional grading fees for error and variety coins that it makes this area of the hobby much less accessible to slabbed coin collectors, and second, that those coins graded for such exorbitantly high additional fees are not even particularly likely to be correctly identified in the holder, surely making buyers even more confused and wary of this already daunting area of the hobby.

What bothers me most about this, is this isn't PCGS being a victim of deceit (like if, say, someone made a good forgery that they attributed as a 104). These are all real variety coins that they just misattributed out of some combination of lack of experience and laziness. This is like if PSA slabbed a gem mint Michael Jordan rookie, only it was actually a Scottie Pippen card in the case.

Anyway, not sure what can be done about this, but I just needed to rant because I think this is really pathetic/ridiculous coming from a grading service as established as PCGS. Especially considering these coins in question are 1. very high value where the misattribution REALLY matters, 2. are high grade, so again, high value even among this rare variety, and 3. ARE THEIR OWN EXAMPLE COINS FOR THE VARIETY! I mean, really, how embarrassing to go 6 for 9 on correctly IDing the coins they're using as the example pieces...