There is an interesting article in the latest (June 15) issue of Numismatic
News.

The U. S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a coin
dealer who was charged and convicted of mail fraud when he sent customers
many coins that were overgraded.

The Court said that systematic overgrading could be grounds for mail fraud
since the value of the coins is determined by the grade. The defendants had
made the usual claims that grading is subjective, there is no industry
standard, yada, yada.. more than 700 coins were admitted into evidence and
reviewed by an independent coin grader (Paul Montgomery of PCGS). Of those
coins, 67 were assigned the same grade as determined by the defendants but
the remainder were assigned a lower grade sometimes many points lower or
were deemed problem coins and not gradeable. The court noted that if
grading was as subjective and inconsistent as teh defendants claimed, then
at least some fo teh coins should ahve received a higher grade that that
assigned by the defendants. None did. The court then upheld the
conviction.

This is a victory for the good guys.


--
Richard
A thought: Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body. But rather it's to
skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly
proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!!!"