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And at $3300 he has been well and truly spanked

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Bill, thank you for your input and your interest in this discussion. If you are a big fan of the CGS service, then you have no doubt followed the very many discussions in these forums on the pros and cons of slabbing. You will no doubt have seen that the vast majority of collectors here who have expressed an opinion, are either mostly against slabbing (but may own one or two slabbed pieces) or totally against them. You will also be aware, I'm sure, that there are some very serious collectors here, by which I mean NOT how seriously they take the hobby (we all do) but how much resource they put into tracking down very rare varieties and types, provenancing them, and then storing them. You are defending CGS against similar North American TPGs, specifically on the grading and slabbing of British coins. Even those of us who are against slabbing would agree that CGS are probably the best for British coins. Look at all the many complaints here about NGC - which you rightly pointed your finger at - and you will see that is true. Pro-slabbers will use CGS here in the UK because apart from their sluggish turnaround times, they seem to do a good job. Not all is sweetness and light, however. How else do you explain the appearance on eBay of very ordinary 1915 farthings, slabbed by CGS, and offered for sale at a vastly inflated price? "Ah", you might well respond, "that's not the fault of CGS, the pricing was set by the seller in the hope that a slabbed coin would command a high price". Fair enough. Yet the seller in question was traced back to London Coins. It therefore now looks like a clumsy attempt to promote the service by setting precedents for high prices on eBay for slabbed coins. Those who like slabbing defend the practice vigorously, and fair do's to them. Those of us who are against, and who prefer to remove our coins (with care) once in a while from their mahogany cabinet, and held up to be viewed and loved in the best light, look on askance at the growth of TPG services, and we wonder why a similar service could not be offered where the coin is graded and photographed, and the results sealed into a thin plastic capsule that could be stored separately from the coin, but included with it if it was sold? You are pro-slabs so you may not be open to the arguments against them, but I hope you will reflect on the fact that not everyone - and in these forums that means the vast majority - are in favour, or would willingly use the services of a TPG.