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COMPUGRADE!

So, in the midst of being an adult and working on organizing my collection beyond the point of just "chaos," I came across a token from the ANA 100th Anniversary show in Chicago which was my first ANA convention. It was a token that says, "To Err is Human..." on the one side and "Compugrade" on the other. I had forgotten all about this grading service until this popped up. So I did a little Wikipedia adventure and came up with the following info:

"An interesting contender among previous grading services was Compugrade. In 1990 Henry Merton was awarded United States Patent Number 4,899,392: Method and System for Objectively Grading and Identifying Coins, Feb. 6, 1990. Compugrade’s computers evaluated mint luster, physical damage to the coin and other conditions that detracted from the quality of 'Mint State.' Compugrade also patented a ‘tamper-proof’ slab to hold the coins that they graded. However, a ‘coup’ by members of Compugrade’s board of directors caused Henry Merton to telephone the Editor of Coin World to ask her to publish the letter that he had filed with her. That letter acknowledged assistance from numismatists who had not signed release forms for their contribution of information to the writing of the patent. That letter to the editor ‘wiped out’ Compugrade’s exclusivity by placing the patent in the public domain, which was Merton’s intent."

Source:

Wiki

Some pics from Sampleslabs.com

Sample Slabs

I was on LinkedIn (professional networking website) and I saw someone that is actually president of Compugrade 3D, but the link to Compugrade only rerouted me back to his profile. It would amaze me if some version of this company is still in business.

I thought you all might get a kick from the blast from the past.

Comments

  • YQQYQQ Posts: 3,264 ✭✭✭✭✭
    my memory is toooo wrinkled do to age .. BUT did someone take over the actual company?
    someone like AGC or even ANACS?
    Today is the first day of the rest of my life
  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    You know, the details seem murky at best. I didn't spend a lot of time beyond copying and pasting the links from Wikipedia, but from what I surmised, it appears that they either declared bankruptcy shortly after founding or just went out of business because the founder had an issue with other members of the board of directors so he sabotaged the company by disclosing information about how multiple numismatists were involved in writing the software that Compugrade used, rendering its patent null and void which essentially killed the exclusivity of their grading process.

    But then I see a company called Compugrade 3D which has officers of some sort and apparently is still in business on the internet in random places. I can not be certain that this is the same company, what exactly they are doing now, if anything and who is responsible. It's not interesting enough to pursue doggedly.
  • 2ltdjorn2ltdjorn Posts: 2,329 ✭✭✭✭
    the owner is lostsisler, and is a forum member here.
    WTB... errors, New Orleans gold, and circulated 20th key date coins!
  • mkman123mkman123 Posts: 6,849 ✭✭✭✭
    Lostsisler owns compugrade 3d? Can he chime in?
    Successful Buying and Selling transactions with:

    Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
  • theboz11theboz11 Posts: 6,576 ✭✭✭
    Forgot all about them,, It was cutting edge to take out the human factor using computers that were as powerful as portion of an XBOX. I would think that with the Terabyte Processors today it would be a much more viable endeavor.
  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    Yes, I wasn't saying anything good or bad about the company in general. It just reminded me of the movie "Tron." Like here is this advertising piece with the word "COMPUGRADE" on it, with its big fancy announcement pants on and then the next thing I know, I have to look it up on Wikipedia, because it has been twenty years and I haven't heard a word about it since.

    No offense to the owner at all intended. Now I'm curious as to what they are doing, if any business and what their business model is like. I just do not see anything about it, so now I am curious. Just in the most general of ways.

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