These type of companies have really damaged the hobby with new collectors. The newer collector has heard they should get a graded coin when they are not good at grading themselves and these type of basement slabbers depend on that to make money. These people are usually coin dealers themselves and just place their inventory into plastic holders that look like real TPG holders and target the unknowing collector because they see a grade on a plastic holder and think it was done by a third party not the actual person who owned the coin when it was placed in these holders. Dealers have been marking their inventory with inflated grades way before there were ever any TPG but since the TPG's have taken off in the hobby this is just another weapon in their arsenal to get over on new collectors. As Sap said above some of these coins are problem coins and some are even fakes and just about every time the coins have inflated grades to try and prey on the people that can not grade themselves to try and get more money for their coins. Even though this is nothing new with dealers it is more deceptive than just having a inflated grade on a cardboard 2x2 because it makes the collector think they are getting an unbiased opinion on grade when in fact it is no better than the grade would have been on the 2x2 of yesteryear




















