Graders At Major TPG Buying And Selling Coins

If he really is then it's clearly bad conduct and should be reported.

If it's also that blatant then maybe the facts aren't quite as clear as you think... there are many John Does - unless the shipping address is in the area of the TPG, maybe that's it.

Also I have to ask what your motivation is? It sounds like maybe you are more upset over the rapid return and slow ship?

This is a very common misconception. The only restriction they have is buying and selling commercially. Ergo, if I'm a senior employee or grader and happen to see a coin I need for my collection I need nobody's authorization to buy it. This comes straight from both PCGS and NGC.

As BH said the grader doesn't know who owns what coins, and assuming this person is a grader maybe he saw something with the coins he didn't like, it is his job to know this after all.

The only conflict of interest I could see arising, and have no documented evidence of happening, is a grader purposefully undergrading a coin and then buying it later for profit. However, this theoretical scenario is impossible by design. Firstly, in order for a coin to be assigned a grade two graders in two separate rooms have to both see and agree on the grade. If they both do not assign the same grade it goes to a third grader. In order for this type of fraud as theorized to occur, somehow two graders would both have to know that a specific coin is going to be assigned to them, then somehow conspire to undergrade it. This is again impossible by design as graders don't know what they are going to grade with the exception of certain types of specialists or junior graders (whom almost exclusively deal with modern proofs and bullion coins). Let's say somehow that 2 graders somehow successfully conspire to undergrade that coin, before it is shipped out the coin now holdered is sent to another grader, the head grader, to QC the coin and make sure the grade is accurate. So basically it's impossible for them to really do anything nefarious by design.

Also, no offense intended, but I agree with BStrauss in that it seems you are more upset about the instant return than who had the coin. Moreover, why is who had it relevant? Rather, in order for you to even know that this person was a grader you would have had to look in to them to figure out who they were, which, if I'm being honest, is kinda red flagish on its own.

.... but if he's doing it to you, he's doing it to others and that calls the entire trust structure of the industry into question.

IF it were me, I'd drop the dime, but I'm not a nice person.

Although as a professional dealer I share your ire re the slow shipping, and it does seem a bit odd, I have to say that I am not seeing much in the way of wrongdoing that actually has any bearing on this person's job / working for a TPG. There is no evidence here, only blanks that you have left for people to fill in in the same way that you have.

There are no restrictions on employees of TPGs buying / owning coins, and that is all that you can demonstrate that this individual has done - if you could produce an ebay listing / auction consignment of the same coin in the time that they had it, that would be a different story. For all you know though, he got it, didn't like it for whatever reason, and then it sat on his desk for a bit buried under some paperwork until he noticed 'oh darn, completely forgot about that' before actually posting it. As for the insinuation that he had it graded, well, I don't think that there are any restrictions on employees of TPGs submitting coins, largely because as per above the process is designed to prevent conflict of interest / fraud.

This is not to say that the TPGs are above reproach - there is strong evidence of collusion with commercial interests, but this tends to be at much higher levels than the individual, and on a market scale rather than an individual one. As you have no actual proof, only assumptions and a gut feeling, I would say eat the $40, bury this and move on. Don't forget this incident, as if a pattern of behaviour emerges, that might be a bit suspect, but bank it, and leave this guy / gal alone before you cross a line into defamation by reporting / naming them.

Usually there is.

David Hall of PCGS ran his own, well advertised, coin business on the side for his entire career.

He was also the founder and CEO of PCGS, and a dealer long before starting PCGS... that is worth mentioning.

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of the Forum! They are all appreciated . Most enlightening some of the
Things I have learned .