By no means am I happy with the way that NGC grades all of the time.

But, with that being said, I think that they do a good job overall.

Yes, I've had some coins bodybagged that I think should have been slabbed but I've also had some coins slabbed that I thought would get "bagged" for sure. The one thing that I have learned through all of my experiences with getting coins graded is to ask myself "why did they do this" before I jump to the conclusion that these people are nuts and haven't got a clue. Usually after I examine the coin(s) in question and ask myself that question I can (on an average) figure out why they did it that way.

When it comes to cleaned coins. If there is even a chance that a coin has been cleaned they will "bag" it. They do have a reputation to uphold and they can't take the chance of risking that. After all that is what each one of us pays for--getting our coins graded by one of the most reliable grading companies in the business!

As far as turn around times, one must consider all of the steps that are included in the grading process as well as the sheer volume of coins/customers that NGC has. My own Collector Society number is over the 10,000 mark and my last submission was about 20 coins. You do the math and I'm still a little guy. There are some collectors and dealers that submit coins by the hundreds. At one time or another all of us tend to overlook these factors. The GSA coins do not have to go through some of these steps. After all, there is little to no chance that these coins have been counterfeited, altered or cleaned so these steps can be omitted and they can go straight to grading and where they do not have to be slabbed they can be labled and shipped. Any raw coins that are submitted will have to be put in line behind all of the other raw coins that still have to go through these steps. And let's face it, the majority of the coins that are submitted are raw. Coins like the GSA coins are, by far, the minority.

I hope this helps explain a few things.

Mike

This is an 1893-O Morgan Dollar that I didn't think would make the grade. It's got a couple of bumps on the reverse rim and I thought it would get bagged for rim damage but I guess it wasn't that bad. It graded out at G-4. It's not a spectacular example of a Morgan Dollar but with a mintange of just 300,000 it's a tough one to find.

1893-O $1