question about ACG/AH Collectibles

TommyB

I am no lawyer, but it seems kind of illegal to me to, on one hand grade coins, and then on the other hand sell them at auction where you get higher premiums for higher graded coins. I would think at least you should have to prominently display your association. Can someone please explain how he/they get away with this, or am I totally wrong?

Tom

lordmarcovan

How can they get away with this? Because there is no legally binding coin grading standard in existence. Anybody can grade anything however they damn well please. It's all hot air and opinions. Sure, there are recognized standards: ANA, Photograde, B&D (remember them, oldtimers?), PCGS, NGC, Billy Bob and Bubba's Bait Shop and Cut-Rate Grading Service, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

Is it illegal? I'm no lawyer, either.

Is it ethical? Of course not.

AH and ACG will continue to rake in the money as long as there are suckers out there to buy their product. And you know what P.T. Barnum said: there's a sucker born every minute.

Caveat Emptor. Ebay's well-known line. Let the buyer beware.

'Cause the bullpoopie out there is deep, folks- really deep. Hip wader deep. Yep, we'll probably need a snorkel soon. This bullpoopie doesn't all come from AH and ACG, either. Look at the eBay and Yahoo bad apples. Whole barrels full of wormy rottenness, mixed in with the good ones. There are plenty of adherents to the ACG "standards".

Stuff like this is the counterbalance to the positive strides made in American numismatics recently, like the Statehood quarter program. That has been a big success, in that it has generated new interest in our fine hobby, and brought in much-needed new blood. I only hope those newcomers don't get burned. It's a jungle out there, and there a lot of snakes in the grass and the trees, waiting to cheat and disillusion them...

Russ

When you think about it, one could easily make the same argument about DHRC and PCGS. Although more of an arm's length relationship then that of AH and ACG, the relationship nonetheless exists. After all, both DHRC and PCGS are divisions of CU, and David Hall founded PCGS.

Russ, NCNE

RLinn

<< <i>more of an arm's length relationship >>

Good point, but sometimes I think I actually like it better when the arm's length isn't there. At a coin show, for example, a dealer writes his grade opinion on a 2x2 and asks you to buy accordingly. No question where his bias lies. I can accept, reject or negotiate. I still have to buy what I like and like what I buy to be happy.
Of course my example doesn't necessarily address motive and that seems to be a big factor in the original point of this thread.

dorkkarl

dude, THAT is the way to address the acg "issue". you are 100% right on. the ones who yell an holler about their grading standars will never get anywhere, but when you look at the conflict-of-interest issue, you are addressing a FACT, and not an opinoin-oriented thing.

good job on a thread that a lot of acg-bashers would do well to read. you are a right-thinking kind of dude.

K S