PCGS Grading Challenge Video - Critical Review.did The Video Fool You?

DIsclaimer to ward off possibly offending any of my CCF Family members:

I totally believe and stand by the fact there is nothing crazy, uneducated, etc. about a coin collector who enjoys slabbed coins. Hobby's are about fun, and there are many slab collectors who understand how these companies work. These collectors can wisely use the companies and enjoy their hobby.

Intro:
If there was no industry accepted measurement of how long a 1 foot ruler should be, then it would be impossible to talk about measuring something accurately or knowing the "right" measurement.

Charley: The ruler I made shows this stick is 10 inches long.
Ron: Yes, but the ruler I made shows the stick is only 8 inches long, so you I just showed you that you are not good at measuring things.

Some people would be good at estimating lengths using a ruler they made up (non-standard), but challenging someone to use their own skills/ruler to try to get the same measurement when neither person is using the same verifiable and accepted standard length ruler is ridiculous.

There will be no actual RIGHT answers/measurements unless a standardized ruler is used.

PCGS Challenge video review:
This brings us to the video online entitled "CoinWeek: We Take the PCGS Grading Challenge!"

Mr Charles Morgan is a CoinWeek editor. To (he thinks) see how good he is at grading coins, Mr. Morgan attends a show and takes the PCGS challenge which involves guessing the "right" grades for 10 PCGS slabbed coins.

Mr. Ron Guth, a former PCGS president, is administering the test.

After Mr. Morgan is done giving his answers, Mr. Guth tells him which grades he was "right" about and which grades he was "wrong" about.

And...that seems to be about where most people's reasoning takes them.

Oops...
However...
Since any coin can be cracked out, resubmitted to PCGS and never be guaranteed the same grade, the "right" answers Mr. Morgan is checked against could change! The numbers MR. Morgan is tested against in the video are not THE "right" answers! Remember the non-calibrated ruler?

Yet Mr. Morgan...and I am sure a host of people watching the video, never pick up on this fact. :think:

The companies themselves say there is no "calibrated ruler" by clearly stating in their guarantees (which very few people read), that grading coins is an art and is subjective.

The PCGS Challenge (continually calling grades the "right" grades) flies in the face of their own statement. But is IS a great marketing tool!

If the slabs used in this PCGS challenge were cracked and the coins resubmitted, with no guarantee of the same grade this time, then how many answers Mr. Morgan got "right" in his test would also change and alter his overall score (yet he did nothing at all to cause this)!

Unfortunately Mr. Morgan's feedback in the video shows he believes the score he is given is an indication of how well he can grade coins.


Mr. Guth later in the video even says that the best graders only get it "right" about 85% of the time.

What does that statement. "get it right," legitimately mean when applying some common sense?

Scenario: Joe Graydor is one of the "best graders." He grades a Morgan dollar as MS67.

Since, as one of the best, Joe gets the grade "right" only 85% of the time, wouldn't we need a grade from someone who "gets it right" 100% of the time to check to see if Joe is wrong/right this time?

But Mr. Guth's statement about 85% means no one exists to make sure of Joe's abilities! The non-calibrated ruler strikes again!

OK - so the companies use more graders per coin to increase the chance of getting a "right" (whatever that means since no one can tell what "right" actually is) grade for each coin. This is something Mr. Guth eludes to in the video.

Yet the profitable re-slabbing game (to get a higher grade) proves that even using two graders (read the PCGS guarantee carefully...all of it...it's not three graders) means at present there is no one RIGHT grade to be had with the present system.

Oh...the things marketers can pull on the public.

Again...just to make sure...(this topic can stir emotions) I totally believe and stand by the fact there is nothing crazy, uneducated, etc. about a coin collector who enjoys slabbed coins. Hobby's are about fun, and there are many slab collectors who understand how these companies work. These collectors can wisely use the companies and enjoy their hobby.

I just write up things like this so people coming into the hobby can know the overall (no one does homework anyway) mindset of the masses that just accept the grading companies as the unquestionable authorities that tell you THE one RIGHT grade of a coin. Too many people lose money from these companies and get discouraged b/c they ignorantly make baseless assumptions about these businesses.

Way too much money has been lost by coin collectors due to a misunderstanding of the expertise levels and verifiability of the grading companies. If you want verifiable data to this effect, read the essay linked to in my signature that uses data linked to the PCGS website showing PCGS regularly makes a rookie-level error concerning attributing a Kennedy half dollar variety. The results are some collectors being taken for thousands of dollars not getting what the slab says they are getting.