It's taken me a while to realize this but I now understand why there is so much resistance and disagreement concerning Third Party Grading (TPG) of paper money vis-à-vis coins.
COIN GRADING: When you're grading a high-grade coin you invariably inspect it in the perpendicular direction (i.e., at 90 degrees) through a magnifying glass. Thus, after the coin has been slabbed by a TPG company, you can easily check the grade yourself by looking through the plastic in the same perpendicular direction (the only part of a slabbed coin that may be difficult to see is its rim).
PAPER MONEY GRADING: When you're grading a high grade bank note it's no use looking at the piece in the perpendicular direction as you just won't see all of the smaller handling marks and you won't be able to tell whether the note retains its original sheen (i.e., hasn't been washed/pressed). You have to inspect the note by holding it up obliquely to a bright light source so that the light comes in almost parallel to the note itself. You will then see even the most microscopic handling imperfections and surface disruptions and, more importantly, you will be able to determine whether the note has been washed and/or pressed. However, once a note has been slabbed in plastic it becomes totally impossible to examine the note obliquely whence it's impossible to verify the grade assigned by the grading company, i.e., you just have to take their word for it!
Personally speaking, I don't think paper money slabbing will ever become as popular as coin slabbing as it's scientifically impossible to verify the grade, and to verify the originality (absence of pressing), of a note after it's been slabbed .....
« Last Edit: November 19, 2006, 07:45:51 am by Ottawa »
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" Buy the very best notes that you can afford and keep them for at least 10 years. " (Richard D. Lockwood, private communication, 1978).
