boycott of the dog slabbers
lava
Posts: 3,286 ✭✭✭
Anyone else sick to their stomach at how more and more NTC slabs are popping up. I wish we could all boycott all slabs of the dog graders, which in my book is everything other than PCGS, NGC and ANACS. The phrase buy the coin and not the slab is borderline meaningless based on what I'm seeing on ebay -- there are just too many folks getting burned. I think this is very bad for the hobby, which is ironic, becuase the hobby right now is very hot. Quality coins are tough to come by. It is a shame that these third-rate companies are trying to make-up for the shortfall in quality coins by passing off their own crap as being something better than it really is. These companies make me disgusted. 
I brake for ear bars.
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Comments
Glenn
To everyone, please do not attempt to argue this fact as I will be forced to embarrass you in front of the entire forum.
(Ref. Bonsai Kitten)
<< <i>To everyone, please do not attempt to argue this fact as I will be forced to embarrass you in front of the entire forum. >>
Can I be first?
Bring it on!
They have some top notch people there but many people dislike their moderns.
1. PCGS and NGC have marketmakers who will pay SOME sight unseen price for MOST (not all) coins slabbed by them. This limits downside, but it is the only TRUE value of any certifed coins.
2. The true value of ANY other certified coin from ANACS down to Accugrade is the only the willingness of an individual buyer to buy an individual coin at the grade shown on the holder. For the knowledgable, this can run from knowing a coin is solid to accepting a marginal coin at some price level based on the perceived value of the service used. For the unknowedgable, it's a crapshoot... pure and simple.
3. Those who are both knowledgable and unscrupulous enough to take advantage of the unknowledgable, will always find a method of doing it, with or without the existence of the "dog slabbers," or, for that matter, the majors. It's fact of life that the smart money will attract the smart product... and that the foolish money will be parted from its owners! Coins, being valued according to grade as well as rarity, will always have the kind of subjective latitude that the uneducated and undereducated should stay away from, but that just doesn't jive with human nature. I have lost money (more times than I care to think about) buying things that I knew little or nothing about, and I'll bet that applies to just about everyone here. At some level, it's all part of the learning process, yet we rant and rave for each new person who goes through the same process we have.
4. "It is necessary for the astute collector to learn each dealer's standard of grading in order to make intelligent bids." This was written by one-time ANA President Howland Wood in 1907, and it is both poignant by what it says and what it doesn't say. As we learn, we will be less vulnerable to abuse, but this is a timeless problem that we are never going to cure in its entirety. So... we try to curb the worst of the abuses and educate our new colleagues at the earliest opportunity!
Peak Numismatics
Monument, CO
You state, "the hobby right now is really hot". Are you kidding me? Maybe at the really high end of the marketplace. Maybe at the high profile live auctions. Plenty of areas in the hobby have seen significant decreases over the past 2 years. Look at common date PCGS PR-69 DCAM Kennedy Halves that were selling for $35 to $40 3 years ago. Now they are $15 coins. The tougher date PCGS MS-69 ASE, like the '94 & '96, were bringing $300 to $350. Now, you can't sell them for $100. That is in the PCGS holder, not some other services' holder! If you throw out the top 10% of any particular date, then Cameo and DCAM Franklins are down 25-30% over the past 3 years. Is that a really hot market? There are plenty more. For most of the hobby, this is anything but hot.
I notice you state, "The phrase buy the coin and not the slab is borderline meaningless based on what I'm seeing on ebay". Well, if Ebay, and perhaps TeleTrash, are your means of determining what is going on in the market, then I think we have heard enough.
I notice ANACS is one of the services you would not boycott. Please let me be clear. I like ANACS' grading practices and find them very consistent and within some series, very strict. I also notice you have an Ebay store for PL Morgans. Let's compare ICG's grading standards for PL and DMPL to those of ANACS. I think you would be VERY hard pressed to find any ANACS' PL Morgans that could cross to ICG's PL holder. Though you might find some ICG PL Morgans that could cross to the ANACS DMPL holder. The ANACS' DMPL wouldn't even have a chance of getting into ICG's DMPL holder. You would have to use one of their Ultras to have a chance to get into the ICG DMPL holder. And you would want to boycott the purchase of their coins? Pfff.... Just my opinion.
<< <i>Anyone else sick to their stomach at how more and more NTC slabs are popping up. I wish we could all boycott all slabs of the dog graders, which in my book is everything other than PCGS, NGC and ANACS >>
no. what makes me sick to my stomach is the overhyping & overmarketing of slabs, PERIOD.
you talk like nobody's every been ripped off buying pcgs, ngc or anacs slabs. do you honestly think that's true?
K S
The real embarrassment on this forum is the way some people say things that are mean and they are NOT joking around. Mean people suck!
I like to fish too! Sorry for sounding cranky. Most people around here will tell you that I have chemical imbalance, but I am one of the good guys. FYI, if I ever write anything that sounds mean, it's because I have not eaten in awhile, or something. No disrespect intended. Got your fishing license yet?
Ed
As for those who believe they can spot a bargain in a dog slab they are living in a fantasy land. Dog coins are in dog slab for a reason. When you think you can grade better than a dealer who sees more coins in a week than you do in a year is when you have lost the game, and money.