One thing I found intriguing about Collectors Universe was their “grader grading” program. As Mr. Rocchi described it, their graders get daily/weekly report cards evaluating their grading skills. Evidently, they have people who possess the ability to absolutely identify the correct grade of, say, a coin. These people take a look at each coin that passes through their doors and compare their “correct” grade with that given by the grader actually assigned to each respective coin. If the assigned grader’s grade is even one grade off from the “correct” grade, they receive a demerit of some kind. I would assume that if the report card collects enough demerits, the grader in question would either be released or traded.

Or at least put on injured reserve.

The question I had at that point was this: Why not cut out the middle man and have those people who have this ability to absolutely identify the correct grade of a collectible, and who, in any event, seem to be taking the time to examine each piece that comes into their shop, do the actual grading themselves? Why would they rely on an apprentice or some other less-skilled evaluator to do this initial grading? If nothing else, I would think that overhead would be a consideration here. I know it is where I do business.

Another thing I thought was interesting was Mr. Rocchi’s response to a question regarding authentication. The question involved a chip with a doubtful attribution that has not been proven to be genuine. Mr. Rocchi responded that they would not grade or slab a chip (or coin/card…) that has not been absolutely authenticated. I would assume that for authentication you must go either to the manufacturer’s records, or to the initial buyer of the goods in question. In the case of coins, it is fairly straightforward since the U.S. Government is the manufacturer. As regards casino chips, though, I don’t think that authenticating older chips from long-closed casinos would be as problem-free as one would think – even for chips that are commonly accepted as being genuine, and in all likelihood are. Authenticating illegal club chips will be a very interesting proposition as well.