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TruGrade
TruGrade Service registered with the state
of Pennsylvania as a grading service on 11/05/2002
and listed Andrew J. Szoke and John A. Callandrello as owners. The business
was located at 32 Broadway, Bangor, PA. In early 2004, Szoke purchased
Callandrello's interest in TruGrade Service and Callandrello opened NuGrade
LLC in Bushkill, PA., on 4/23/04
TruGrade continued in the grading business, Szoke found a new partner and registered with the state of Pennsylvania on 10/19/2004 as TruGrade Service LLC, and continues to be located at the Bangor, PA., location. According to Szoke, he has a contract to supply NuGrade with the slab holder, but the inserts, grading, and slab finalization is done at NuGrade.
TruGrade slabs are crude, yet they are a real company. The label is made from cheap color ink and computer printer paper. The slab snaps together, but can easily be opened with a screwdriver. They recently added a .com to the back of the slab (www.trugradeservice.com), which is not present on this sample. A newer sample if there is one should have this and would make it easy to tell from the first type.
TruGrade 1
Trugrade’s sample slab is just like the normal production slab but with the word “sample” added to the bottom right hand along with words describing the placement of the date, denomination and grade. This Tennessee quarter is a choice piece and would easily grade MS-67 or MS-68 at one of the major services. I give them credit for giving a gem coin in a sample slab. |
TruGrade 2
As you can see by comparing this sample to Trugrade 1, everything on the front label has been moved around. On the back of the label a flag has been added along with the slogan “Parts manufactured in the U.S.A.” just like NuGrade 1. Their website has also been added. I think the label for this sample looks more professional than Trugrade 1 but not 100% there yet. There is no hologram or barcode like PCGS or NGC. |
