Lately, there has been much criticism and suspicion about the length of time it takes to get your coins graded. And my recent submission is no different. Like me, at the end of the day, when all your coins have been returned, you will probably ask yourself if it has been worth it? In the end, I weighed my worth against the grades I got, the price I paid, and the wait I had to endure.

On April 22, 2021, I mailed a 13-coin submission to NGC. On August 10, I received the last of my coins back in the mail. In that one mailing, I had four separate submissions graded in the following order. The first two were Christa McAuliffe commemorative coins graded under the US-modern tier. The next was a silver 5-ounce Tuskegee Airmen Quarter in an oversize holder. The largest was an 8-coin submission under the world-economy tier. Finally, the last two coins I received back were two coins under the world-modern tier.

In the end, the cost was never going to be an issue because of last year’s award as one of three awarded journalists. This only left me with two considerations which were in a manner of speaking linked together. The wait was worth it if I liked the grades, and if I didn’t like them, it wasn’t.

Most of the coins were related to my 1868-70 Spanish Provisional Government set and my 1933-38 Second Spanish Republic set. The others were new purchases and a few that had been lying around in flips.

Having all those grading credits tempted me to send in coins that I otherwise might not of. However, I had a duplicate raw coin that I considered sending in with the submission to sell. In the end, I determined not to send it because I thought it might get a details grade. Why waste the credit if I didn’t need to? Instead, I’ll save it for my 2021 Morgan and Peace Dollar.

This turned out to be a good decision because, in 13 coins, I had no detailed grades and three top-pops, of which two were 70’s. Most of the other grades were reasonably expected, with only a few exceptions. The following is a chart detailing my hope, my expectation, and the final grade:

Overall, my expectations were met with a minimum of disappointments and three top-pops! Was this worth the wait? Determine for yourselves, but as for me, I think this was worth the wait. Gary.