Dreck, PQ, Star designations - It's all insulting
MidLifeCrisis
Posts: 10,553 ✭✭✭✭✭
I think the main reason people get spun up about these designations is that it insults the average collector who looks at his/her coins and thinks "Are my coins PQ or are they dreck?"
As collectors we are, by nature, proud of our collections - no matter what those collections contain. To think that a TPG or some other "group of experts" may pass judgment on our coins and deem them inferior for some arbitrary, subjective reason is insulting and quite disconcerting.
The terms "PQ" and "dreck" are used in a general sense by some dealers to create uncertainty among collectors about the coins they own or should buy.
Further, the possibility that PCGS may alter their grading designations - to include implementing a 100 point scale or decimal grades - is equally alarming because we are comfortable with the grading system that is already established...and we don't like anything that threatens our comfort level when it concerns the coins in our collections.
As collectors we are, by nature, proud of our collections - no matter what those collections contain. To think that a TPG or some other "group of experts" may pass judgment on our coins and deem them inferior for some arbitrary, subjective reason is insulting and quite disconcerting.
The terms "PQ" and "dreck" are used in a general sense by some dealers to create uncertainty among collectors about the coins they own or should buy.
Further, the possibility that PCGS may alter their grading designations - to include implementing a 100 point scale or decimal grades - is equally alarming because we are comfortable with the grading system that is already established...and we don't like anything that threatens our comfort level when it concerns the coins in our collections.
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In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
From my personal collection, there are lots of examples where this is true. I buy very few things for it nowadays, maybe one coin every few months. I search and search, but only buy a coin when it's really everything I want. For some series, it's just eye appeal. For others, I'm making sure the coin is all-that-and-then-some for the grade. When I buy a coin, I want to know that for what I can afford, I've really gotten my money's worth, even if I paid more than a price guide would advise.
In some cases, this just means a really attractive MS65 dollar that is near a 66. Or, when I bought my NJ cent after over a decade of searching, a pristine Very Fine with smooth surfaces, great color, and plenty of details. Yes, I'd love to have an MS68 Morgan, or an uncirculated NJ copper. But, that's not in the cards for me right now, so I just go about getting the best that I can. If someone wants to say that my coins aren't up to snuff because they can afford better, then fine, let them. But I challenge them to do better within my budget.
So really, the only way I'd be insulted if someone called my coins dreck would be the situation where I looked at them again, and realized I could have done better and I could have been smarter. But in those scenarios, I'm likely to sell the coin and try again. The key is to be happy with collecting what YOU want to collect.
Some of the shrinkage is due to the economic downturn and some is due to the aging collector population.
1.excrement; dung.
2.worthless trash; junk.
IMHO, to call any coin a "dreck" is just plain ignorance.
I agree with you. Every coin has a place and some history attached to it.
If by "dreck" you are trying to describe an over graded coin then please choose another word as "dreck" in this use doesn't make sense!
I agree that it can be insulting, especially when it's used to put down others and boost themselves. The more you learn, the less you care what others say or think.
IMO, PCGS will be hurting themselves by going to a more detailed grading system. It seems that many already disagree with some of their grading opinions as it is. What will happen if they start trying to be more specific when grading? Opinions vary, even day to day. How can a new 100 point system help us collectors?
The same coin inside a slab when compared to other coins of the same date and type also in the same tpg slab most assuredly may be dreck.
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
No more so than the TPGs already are. (That is, according to your logic.)
And as for "dreck", of course it's not the best word for our purposes. But given the source, we should at least be grateful that it's spelled properly.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>I think of it in a different way. The question shouldn't be, "are my coins PQ or are they dreck?" but rather, "are my coins the nicest I can acquire, and do I like them?"
From my personal collection, there are lots of examples where this is true. I buy very few things for it nowadays, maybe one coin every few months. I search and search, but only buy a coin when it's really everything I want. For some series, it's just eye appeal. For others, I'm making sure the coin is all-that-and-then-some for the grade. When I buy a coin, I want to know that for what I can afford, I've really gotten my money's worth, even if I paid more than a price guide would advise.
In some cases, this just means a really attractive MS65 dollar that is near a 66. Or, when I bought my NJ cent after over a decade of searching, a pristine Very Fine with smooth surfaces, great color, and plenty of details. Yes, I'd love to have an MS68 Morgan, or an uncirculated NJ copper. But, that's not in the cards for me right now, so I just go about getting the best that I can. If someone wants to say that my coins aren't up to snuff because they can afford better, then fine, let them. But I challenge them to do better within my budget.
So really, the only way I'd be insulted if someone called my coins dreck would be the situation where I looked at them again, and realized I could have done better and I could have been smarter. But in those scenarios, I'm likely to sell the coin and try again. The key is to be happy with collecting what YOU want to collect. >>
Well said. You are quite wise for your years, grasshopper. (Hopefully you have seen reruns of "Kung-Fu.")
Larry L.
K
<< <i>Knowledge is King. >>
And the ability to utilize it.
<< <i>PQ when ya buy, dreck when ya sell...same as always!
K >>
Maybe that is the next big thing: a slab that automatically changes its designation based upon whether a collector is trying to buy the coin or sell the coin inside. When you are buying the modifier reads "+" and when you are selling it reads "-". Classic!