PCGS Coin Buyers Paying $200 For The Holder ?

Fenton, that's plum crazy!

You don't have a ms70 coin, you have a ms70 holder. Crack it out and send it back in if you doubt me.

According to TPG, any 65 is the same as any 65, and the public actually believed that.

Then they claimed that there not only is a difference between 69 and 70, but that the tiny imperfection makes the coin lose 80-90% of its value, and collectors actually believe that.

So even a perfect grade did not make the ANACS worth grading, which is as it should be for a current issue coin. Someone with a $2 coin in a $228 piece of plastic is going to have a rude awakening some morning.

There used to be a coin "investment advisor" who managed to claim for years that no client who stuck to his recommendations ever failed to make a profit. After his suckers investors bought their initial overpriced junk the fun began, with numbers instead of names:

1) Our studies show that IHC will be the next hot area, so it's time to take your profit on LMC. We'll give you 11k for the LMC you paid 10k for, and have this great package of IHC, for only 12k.

2) Our studies show that Commems will be the next hot area, so it's time to take your profit on IHC. We'll give you 11k for the IHC you paid 10k for, and have this great package of Commems, for only 12k.

3) Our studies show that bust halves will be the next hot area, so it's time to take your profit on type gold. We'll give you 11k for the type gold you paid 10k for, and have this great package of bust halves, for only 12k.

4) Our studies show that LMC (from 1) will be the next hot area, so it's time to take your profit on Barber dimes. We'll give you 11k for the Barber dimes you paid 10k for, and have this great package of LMC, for only 12k.

5) Our studies show that IHC (from 2) will be the next hot area, so it's time to take your profit on proof sets. We'll give you 11k for the proof sets you paid 10k for, and have this great package of IHC, for only 12k.

ad nauseum

Notice how every investor does indeed make a paper profit, and how by "trading hats" this scam can go on forever.

This all works great until investor 13 wants to cash out and sell the IHC he paid 20k for, and the promoter runs out of new "investors", and everyone in the system has owned those IHC at lower prices.

Now 13 has to be told the time is not right to sell, or maybe that he can get his 20k back, as long as he applies it to (insert overpriced investment here).

From the POV of people on a merry-go-round, they are stationary in relation to each other. Each investor is making a profit. From the POV of someone standing in line, the people on the merry-go-round are chasing each other in a circle, with no one gaining except as their horse moves forward and back to where it started. And the ticket-taker (promoter) is the one who makes the money.

Eventually the system collapses when more people want to cash out than new suckers investors want in, and the sellers find that outside the system, they can only get half or a quarter of their money back.

Back to TPG

MS70 coins are worth big money. Why? Because suckers investors want coins for their competitive sets. All is well as long as the TPG can convince people that a 70 is actually somehow better than a 69, and works better than Viagra.

When these set owners want/need to cash out, or their heirs say "looks like a 2009 penny to me", where is the market for these none-higher coins? The ONLY market is for competitive sets. Regular collectors would be tickled with a 63-65. Ditto museums, who want to get donations, not spend money.

With any investment, ask yourself one simple question:

When I want to cash out my investment, how do I turn this into spendable money?