Would You Crack And Resubmit This Note To A Major TPG?

What a beauty!

While I agree with this, sometimes the collector world does not always follow this line of thinking. With registry sets in the balance and points awarded for the numerical grade, a higher graded note usually equates to a higher premium.

I totally agree with this.

These companies make up schemes like registry sets etc. so people will want their services more and contribute more money to keep the businesses going! The psychological "need" to have an "expert" put their stamp of approval on something is taken advantage of by these people. Then it goes even further b/c we have companies like CAC whose "better experts" can tell if the TPG "experts" did their job correctly.

Some of the comments in this thread are the bill will look better in a "different wrapper." Has the focus really shifted from off of the historic value and beauty of the note to the wrapper its put into?

Don't get me wrong. If a person likes to collect slabs/etc. b/c they like the looks of slabs/etc. then go for it. A hobby is about fun.

But if this was mine, and I obviously do not care about the slab/etc., and I was going to keep it, I would not waste the money for just a different wrapper. I could thoroughly enjoy the bill for its own beauty.

I really do dislike, overall, what coin and bill certification has done to this hobby. Marketers and snake oil salesmen manipulating the public to focus on key dates and touted expertise has really taken a lot of the fun away.

This is a fascinating subject.

The devil in me tempted this purchase, and now he tempts me to try my hand at the lure of filthy lucre.

Okay, I love the note, but I'm in this for some decent money, and I need to resolve its value at some point, which can only happen in a major TPG holder (unless I get a decent offer beforehand).

I can see your point here, but if these grading schemers had never come along, people would be self-educating anyway. I also think the market prices would not be so high - hence not as much incentive for people to become "doctors." An argument against my own point though is that we now live in a day where there is a lot more volume traded now - so maybe there would be as much faking.

I know the general idea of TPGs abroad was that Americans were nuts for spending hard earned cash for someone they don't know to tell them something they could figure out for themselves. Americans had the most disposable cash bacj then, so this is also, I think, why the TPGS got a foothold.

When the TPGS first came along, the general consensus in the group of collectors I knew was that they were a joke (at best) and nothing but snake oil salesmen preying on the hobby. But since Americans had more disposable cash back then, they got a foothold.

When the internet came along and ebay changed the world, the TPGs really got their unwarranted level of faith enhanced. I say unwarranted as proven by the many posts of their errors, bad business dealings, mis-graded coins, and the very fact there can even exist a company claiming they have experts who can tell you if the TPG experts did their job right - CAC sticker!

Sadly the latter case is something we joked about when the TPGs were created. However, we "knew" (not being mean/cruel/negative - just relaying exactly what we said back then) that the hobby would never be stupid enough to fall for a scheme like someone saying they could verify would charge money to verify the slabbing experts were "expert" enough in their work. Times change.




I totally agree with this. I hope I have said enough in my posts on threads of this nature for people to know that I believe if a person likes the looks of slabbed coins, then by all means - good for them and I hope they have fun! Fun is what a hobby is about. A set of slabbed coins can be really nice looking with all matching labels.

As a former teacher, what I do not like to see is people losing touch with what these companies really are, where they came from, and how they keep coming up with marketing schemes to get even more money from people. It is all too easy to find posts concerning the inconsistency of these companies and errors they make. Yet there are people who almost worship the companies as being "THE" authorities in the coin hobby.

That last paragraph especially relates to new collectors. I hate seeing when new collectors - out of innocent ignorance - pick up the idea these TPGS are an indispensable part of the coin hobby. The newbies can too easily think every "good" coin HAS to be slabbed as a natural part of the hobby. The marketers have done their jobs well.

I don't like the tech has been around since at least the 90s to make a very scientific method to scan/grade condition of coins (but would still likely need a human eye to put in a point for eye appeal), and yet the TPGs won't do it. Accountability is something they don't want.

I have no proof of the idea I next propose, but I believe they are simply waiting for the time when overall slabbing business slows down. The TPGS will then, finally, bring out the "new computer system" with marketing geared at asking people how they can sleep at night knowing an impartial computer system, free from human error, did not grade their coins? Re-submission will only be 20.00 per coin (and any priceless heirloom). Then 40 years later they can repeat the gimmick with a new and improved computer algorithm.


The above won't happen? We said the same about a system like the CAC sticker.

@Earle42 - good post and on that slab!

If you're going to submit this "raw" to PCGS or PMG, it may be a good idea to leave the note in the Holder and just remove the CGA label, and let them remove the note..