Truly no offense intended to Hunter's Gold, but I'd like to start a dialogue on the subject, by offering my opinion.

When I say I intend no offense to Hunter's Gold when he describes in his 02/27/2012 Journal Entry that he had "... a PCGS coin of the same grade in this slot but any time I get a chance to swap out a PCGS coin for a NGC coin I will do so," I truly mean no offense.

First, I don't know the reason or rationale, nor the motives and goals of this collector.

However, putting that aside, it raises a broader issue, which has come to light in recent months since NGC decide to eliminate PCGS coins from World Registry Sets, and when many collectors are just waiting for the other shoe to drop when NGC will ultimately decide when NGC will do the same to U.S. coin Registry Sets.

The very fear I had was that people WOULD somehow enable NGC in their move, either by submitting PCGS coins in quantity for crossover grading, so they may once again be included in the NGC Registry.

Likewise, I feared that collectors would start replacing their coins, when given a chance, to replace perfectly acceptable PCGS coins in their sets in favor of PCGS coin to either grow or maintain their standing, in the event than NGC takes action against PCGS graded coins in the U.S. Registry Sets as well.

The last concern, off the top of my head anyway, is that collectors would stop buying PCGS graded coins altogether, in favor of NGC graded coins, just for the purposes of their inclusion in the Registry Sets here in the Collectors Society.

I have no idea what Hunter's Gold is thinking, nor of the motivation, but the actions at least SEEM to play into NGC's hands. One wonders if it's MORE than just a conspiracy theory that NGC wasn't hoping for just that sort of behavior in making their move with the PCGS World Coin Registry Sets?

I don't know what others generally see when shopping for coins, but in my experience, speaking VERY broadly, it seems that PCGS coins seem to fetch a slight premium over NGC graded coins in the marketplace as a whole. Further, on some series, PCGS seems to be a "tougher" grader than NGC, making me ask: Why are their coins any less desirable to collectors?

Now, I understand that NGC is the official grading service of the ANA and the PNG, and that when I submit coins for grading, it's generally been to NGC that I've done so over my years of submissions, so my complaint is not that people choose to submit their coins to NGC over PCGS, please don't misunderstand me.

My concern, however, is that collectors may begun to shun PCGS coins for no valid reason.

The old adage of "buy the coin, not the holder" is often touted, and as far as PCGS and NGC are concerned for standards of grading, the two are certainly reliable, and coins graded by either company can generally be sold sight unseen.

Which brings me back to the beginning. Why replace PCGS coins with NGC coins of the same grade?

Will other collectors be doing it for U.S. or World coins?

Will other collectors be staying away from PCGS coins in the marketplace?

Will you be trying to get your PCGS coins crossed-over to NGC?

While admittedly some of these questions are half-rhetorical, I would like to hear thoughts from other collectors, and I'd be very curious to hear from Hunter's Gold about the motivation to replace coins of the same grade with NGC vs. PCGS.

On a separate topic, here's one of my favorite commemorative half dollars in recent U.S. commemorative history, I just find this coin (and its companions) to be an endearing trio of Americana with the bald eagles, and in this case, the eaglets.