Coin fund profits for state hinged on graders' opinions

[johnfunk]

Well, well, well... looks like this just might've had something to do with the overvaluing of the Ohio "Coingate" Fund -- that is, the coins that didn't go missing...

Coin fund profits for state hinged on graders' opinions
Noe owned stock in an appraiser

By CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
BLADE STAFF WRITER

In the world of rare coins, quick profits can turn on the opinion of a single expert: the coin grader.

The grader's decision on a coin's quality and its rarity can mean extra money made almost from nothing. It's an opinion many coin dealers count on.

Ohio's failed $50 million investment in rare coins can be traced back in part to a strategy called "grading arbitrage," one that rests on the opinions of those who look coins up and down and sideways.

In his proposal to the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation, GOP fund-raiser and local coin dealer Tom Noe said he would use the strategy, which banks on human opinion to manipulate the rare-coin market, to generate returns for the state's two rare-coin funds: Capital Coin I and II.

...looks like this just might be enough of a catalyst to wrest Ohio from the GOP (Grifters' Oligarchy Party).