I've been waiting to see.....

Well NGC has gone ahead with their business scheme to banish the PCGS coins from the World Registry. First let me say that- of course it is NGC's site and of course they have full right to do anything they choose with their company and registry.

I had held off with posting a journal with my reaction until they actually did the deed. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt that they may change their minds and put the collectors ahead of the almighty dollar. Now that it is done I can say that I am quite displeased by their decision--and even more displeased by the condescending and lame explanation that they gave.

I would have been more accepting if they had flat out said, " this is a purely financial decision". " We at NGC feel that at this time we are in a unique and strong position to establish a monopolistic dominance in world coin grading and have decided to eliminate PCGS coins from the registry for the purpose of ensuring that the bulk dealer submissions will be sent to us and that the growing TPG business worldwide will look to NGC for the lion's share of its certifications." Something l;ike that..after all, the truth is easier to swallow than when people pee down your neck and tell you it's raining. ( it's too confusing to determine varieties and attributions??? really?? just use Krause as a standard and if PCGS criteria differ THEN you disqualify the coin)

Anyhow, this does affect many, many of us. I spent a couple of thousand last year to finally bring my Canadian $2 Twonies up to the #1 registry slot-- it is now dropped down to #4. You see, 2 of the rarer, low mintage gold coins in the series I bought in PCGS slabs--simply because they rarely come onto the market and when they do already slabbed in a 69 or better you gotta grab THE COIN no matter the slab it's in.

Secondly, I have a #1 Canadian proof dime set that has been #1 for 4+ years and was 36 out of 39 coins complete--now it will never be complete. You see, not only do I need the final 3 dates but now there are also 2 PCGS coins that will never be listed in their slots. I won't spend $30 to cross $20 coins and neither will I buy second copies of coins I already posess--so a set that has been years in the making will never be seen as complete on the registry.

There are other smaller sets also with PCGS coins in them--I already have eliminated 6 sets completely from the registry and am considering the removal of my 3 #1 Bahamas sets since those sets also will never be seen as complete on the registry.

I guess I can be satisfied with knowing that the sets are complete and also, even though my7 sets my not be ranked #1-- the reality is that I'll be the owner of the #$1 set of coins in the category.

Sadly, there will now be dozens and dozens of sets in this registry ranked as #1 that are not even close to the sets that fellow members own--of coins t5hat is. So this is a sad day for the world coin registry-- it is the day when a #1 ranking no longer means the #1 set of coins-- it only means that you have the most paper labels with an NGC logo.

It is also disheartening that I have been so loyal to NGC through the years..even with drops and cuts in services and membership benefits just as they have raised costs and gotten lax on turnaround times. I have never complained when I sent in tokens or medals that they had previously slabbed with, "ineligible type" but then find my submission returned unslabbed but they kept my money. Also dozens of coins that were bodybagged and not graded-which is what I paid for- but again they kept the fees ( coincidentally almost all get slabbed on resubmission). Paying postage both ways on 4 seperate occasions to get mislabeled coins or damaged slabs exchanged-- never without complaint.

I did all of this-- even knowing that my coins would have a 12-15% GREATER VALUE IN A PCGS SLAB- at the same grade. I will not spend a dime crossing my coins into slabs that will REDUCE their value-- I may have been a loyal lackey for these years but I will not just throw money away.

There is another alternative. I COULD CROSS TO PCGS. The difference in increase of value in a PCGS slab could offset some of the costs of crossing and then I could list my sets as completed in the PCGS registry. I'll have to give that some thought though. I'm actually leaning toward selling everything now except my Half Dollar sets-- in fact, I'm taking offers on all of my World coins ( although you now can't see which coins I actually have in my collections).

Oh well, I have no doubt that NGC will profit well from this decision and that the few dozen of us who will now be quitting the world coin registry, well we will not matter much in the big financial picture.

For a picture to accompany my journal--here are my 2 25th anniversary silver eagles still in their unopened box. I have been struggling with what to do with them. I have finally decided to stick with my principles ( even if it resembles the old, "cut off your nose to spite your face" cliche). I will not be sending them to NGC- or any more money to them. I will send them to PCGS, even though the likelihood of getting a bunch of 70's is considerably less than with NGC...I am truly saddened that it has come to this, maybe it is time to put aside this hobby anyhow. Between the mint's ridiculous expansion of offerings, the burgeoning amount of counterfeits from China of classic coins, more emphasis put on labels than coins, "First Strikes" that aren't, sour grapes and resentments when registry awards are announced, scammers on ebay, auction houses charging 15% to buy coins, 15% to sell them, TPG's charging $30 per coin to glance at them for 3 to 5 seconds ( this is a fact disclosed by several graders themselves), paying extra for "Earlybird" grading process and then getting the coins returned at a longer wait than the "cheapo" $18 per coin submission rate/tier-BUT NOT GETTING REFUNDED THE DIFFERENCE ( isn't this just plain stealing when you charge extra for an expedited service but then don't expedite it and still keep the money???)

I'm sick of it, it's time to enjoy my sailing, build a greenhouse so that I can garden in the winter, spend extra time with the granddaughter and reading my Bible. Maybe take that money spent on coins and take that dream trip through Europe now that the Euro is crashing and travel there is cheaper than it has been in decades...lots of things to fill thye time I spent on coin collecting. Most of them will enrich my life far more also.

So in the end, thank you NGC for the past years of enjoyment and good luck with your new position as a hard-line, no-nonsense, dollar first company. I'm sure that you'll be very successful. Maybe this is just the incentive I needed to get my priorities back into order and reset my focus on God, family and spending my money on living instead of objects........