An interesting comparison between two population reports.

Many of you are aware that I collect the Netherlands ?Queen Wilhelmina I? 10 Gulden gold coins issued between 1897 and 1933. This past week I upgraded my 1917 NGC MS-66 coin with a PCGS MS-67 coin. Naturally, since this coin is in the registry, I spend a significant amount of time studying the population reports and fortunately, PCGS allows free access to their world coin population report. While comparing the two reports, I found a distinct disparity between the grades assigned by NGC and PCGS through the entire series. Interestingly, NGC only grades two coins in the series at MS-67 with none higher, the 1917 being one of the two 67?s. However, on the PGGS report, PCGS grades a whopping ?770? 1917 coins at MS-67 with seven higher at MS-68.

To illustrate my point, the 1917 has the most POPs of both grading services with NGC having 755 MS graded coins and PCGS 2011. From there I calculated the percentage of the total population in each of the mint state grades. Hoping to find equality between the services, I found disparity. Check these figures out:

NGC/ PCGS

MS-62 .4% 0%

MS-63 3% .7%

MS-64 36% 2.3%

MS-65 54% 5%

MS-66 6% 53%

MS-67 .1% 38%

MS-68 0% .3%

What?s amazing is these populations are mirroring each other shifted by one and that this example is typical of the rest of the coins in this series. From this comparison, I can only conclude that either NGC?s grades are correct and PCGS is over-grading, or PCGS grades are correct and NGC under-grades. Another thing that strikes me is that PCGS has a reputation of being more conservative with its grading. Now I do not dispute that, but these numbers seem to show otherwise, at least in this case.

What does my gut tell me? Examining, both coins side by side, the NGC coin seems to be every bit the PCGS coin and may grade MS-68 by PCGS standards. So what is the truth? The only way I can know for sure is to crack out my NGC coins and submit them to PCGS. Clearly, I am not about to do this, so the world may never know. What I do know is that I will populate my set with the highest-grade coins I can buy and that my PCGS MS-67 coin is a fine acquisition. Therefore, for numismatic fodder I am attaching a collage of both coins so that you may judge for yourself. Unfortunately, because of luster and lighting issues, these photos may not be easy to compare with the PCGS coin being the one on the right. In the end, is not all grading subjective? Happy collecting!

Gary