Question About Non Reputable TPG's

No. Frankly, the grade is just as untrustworthy as everything else claimed on a basement slab.

You cannot trust the coin has been properly identified.

You cannot trust that it has not been cleaned or has other problems which one of the genuinely third party companies would reject the coin for.

You cannot trust that it is actually a genuine coin.

NNC is a particularly egregious one - the guy behind them is an established coin guy - a former finalist in a PCGS grading contest - who deliberately hose the Dark Side.

It depends on how non reputable the company is. For a lot of the basement slabbers you definitely can't trust the grades, but mostly they slab moderns and they are almost certainly genuine. Of the small number of older coins they slab most will be real with the number of questionable pieces rising as the value rise.

For many of the older small and now mostly defunct services again you still can't trust the grades but most of them were serious about trying to make sure the coins were genuine. You will be pretty safe.

With the second tier companies both current and defunct grades are questionable, but authenticity is pretty solid, about a well as the major firms.

With the major firms grading in my opinion can still be questionable but authenticity risk is approaching 0%.



You can't trust that from the top two firms. The top best at proper identification are SEGS and then ANACS. Probably then followed by ICG, NGC and finally PCGS.

Frankly no matter who slabbed the coin YOU need to verify as much as possible yourself. Don't just take the TPG's word for it. The big advantage of the top firms though is in the case they do make a mistake, they will usually stand behind their work. (I say usually because in the case of NGC if you buy a coin based on an attribution on the holder and it turns out to be wrong you are out of luck. Attributions are not guaranteed. Also in the case of copper if the color turns you are not protected.)