The "journals" are worse not better.  The registry is also worse and I have cut my time there by 80% (maybe a good thing?)  NGC has taken the "high road" out of town and left us, the collectors, behind.  Why do I have to go to page 4 to find my U.S. coins?  The time is ripe for a Third, Third party to open a user friendly Registry for us "the collector" that serve as the fuel for the hobby.  Maybe the ANA, hint , hint...

A good registry is like a virtual Dansco or Whitman album, with holes to fill and eventually the joy of completing a set.  This is where NGC had a huge advantage toward participation.  Most serious collector have a mix of PCGS and NGC.  In auctions of US coins, currently, the ratio of PCGS coins to NGC is about 3 to 4 to 1 .  For world coin auctions it is reversed with NGC dominating by up to 10:1. That maybe why NGC is putting the world coins in front of U.S. on their Registry.   Is NGC giving up on the U.S. market?

NGC IF YOU IGNORE U.S. COLLECTORS WE WILL GO AWAY!!!

Here is what I see as a solution, after having several PCGS coins returned that would not cross ( AFTER NGC GOT THE GRADING FEE) I had an idea.  If NGC is so much purer and dedicated to truth and honesty then here is an idea:

Submit PCGS coins to NGC to cross (full fee) or just to grade (like the GSA coins.)  These coins have no guarantee from NGC if they are left in the PCGS holder, they just get a grade.  Because they are still in the PCGS holder they:

1) Don't get included in the NGC population report

2) The NGC grade is affixed to the PCGS holder so the coin can be used in the NGC registry

3) NGC has no liability as they do not provide a guarantee (as stated in the small print by NGC on both GSA and Ancient coins)

4) If the coin is sent in for only an NGC grade but not gross over (the GSA treatment by request) the fee could be reduced (again NGC is not providing a guarantee)

(About the guarantee, most of you already know all of this but for those that don't, here it is.)The guarantee is what you pay for.  Yes they are guaranteeing the grade in an NGC holder but the big money is in the guarantee the the coin is not a counterfeit.  PCGS has certified at least 2 counterfeit coins that they placed into their holders within the last two years.   If a person buys that coin, in the original PCGS holder without evidence of tampering, they can go to PCGS and expect to be reimbursed for their loss (the fair market value of the coin.)  The grade guarantee is much more difficult to "prove" unless it is a "Red" copper that has turned brown, which is why they don't guarantee color on copper anymore.

This would bring me back to NGC and I would be willing to pay to get my PCGS coins on the NGC registry (which I liked better before).

But it is hard to look at a Liberty V in a PCGS MS-66 holder that NGC would not cross and then resubmit to cross at MS-65 or 64,  Would you do it?

John