NOTES ABOUT NOTES
(Q&A)/Market Commentary
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Third Party Certification - Greensheet article I read with interest the article in the February Greensheet extolling the virtues of third party certification of currency. I do not know the individual who wrote this article but did notice that he works for a large coin company that specializes in selling slabbed currency. These points make good sense to them as sellers of slabbed currency, but not to me as a currency dealer. I will say up front that I am not in favor of third party certification so that no one will misunderstand my motives for writing this! I will address each of the points brought up in the article: Point #1 is security - no one will buy a counterfeit note. There simply are no counterfeit notes out there to be bought! While this may apply to other fields of collectibles, this is simply not a factor in the currency market! Point #2 is condition - notes are graded by a field of experts. I know and highly respect the persons in charge of the 2 new grading services, but who exactly is grading the notes? Just who are these experts? Have any of the services presented a list of their graders along with information about their backgrounds and years in the currency field? How many years have they spent in the currency business and how many notes have they seen? Only CGA has revealed their graders! Are we to believe that every single note is reviewed in detail by the finalizers? Point #3 is value - for the dealer and collector. It is highly recommended that notes over $200 should be graded. Why? How does selling certified currency add to the reputation or name of a currency dealer? Are you saying in effect that after 30 years as a collector/dealer, I need someone else to properly grade my notes? Dealers with years of experience are now supposed to defer to someone else, and they don't even know who, to assign a grade to their notes? I realize that there are some persons out in the market who cannot grade, but the market will surely drive them out of business - that's how the marketplace works! These notes are a value in that the grading fee has been absorbed by the dealer? Not hardly - a grading fee will most certainly be passed along to the buyer and, in the case of lower value and lower grade notes, add substantially to the cost with no real benefit. To think otherwise is simply not true. Collectors - I am very interested in your comments. I will have more to say after part 2 appears in the March Greensheet. |