Thumbs up to the new NCS Modern Tier, AND a Suggestion or two (PLEASE)

BULLY · February 29, 2008

First, let me say, as many concerns as I may have about the new NCS pricing structure in general, I happen to REALLY like the NCS MODERN TIER a lot! (worship)

I've got plenty of coins that I've wanted to submit which can benefit from this, and which I have seen you write about in the forms benefiting greatly from NCS conservation services. (Such as Clad and Silver Ike Dollars, some SBAs, and others).

However, in the past, the evaluation fee, the conservation fee, the NGC grading fee all essentially made the service TOO cost-prohibitive.

For example. Blue and Brown-Pack Ike Dollars would develop a "haze" or spotting or general unattractive toning over the years (the darkening is also common with some of the SBA dollars), with which I imagine, in many cases anyway, that NCS could work wonders. This new service tier opens a window that makes it fiscally within reach for the average collector who would like to get his collection graded, but cannot afford professional conservation on every coin that may be worth $9-$30.

A successful conservation in many cases I imagine can increase a grade and this increase a coin's value from a $25 range to a $50 or $60 range, making your fee money well spent. I am CERTAIN it is a service of which I would like to avail myself, probably within a week even! (Did I mention I am very excited about this service level?)

Ok, now that I have GUSHED about it, I have to ask some "nitty gritty" questions.

1. Your announcement indicates that this applies to submitting any uncertified coin struck from 1970 to present.

a. Is this rule hard and fast?

b. May NGC graded coins still be submitted under the Modern Tier?

If the answer to "b" is no, I'd like to express to you my fear, and perhaps a suggestion: That unskilled collectors (myself included) may haphazardly try to, as they say, "crack the coin" OUT of the NGC holder, and submit them to NCS under the Modern Tier, in an effort to save money. I assume there is nothing that can be done to prevent this. My concern is for the PRESERVATION OF THE COIN. I imagine, based on your name, an acronym though it may be, we have similar goals: Numismatic CONSERVATION Services. If coins are removed from NGC holders, designed to protect coins, and are then damaged in some way, it only hurts the collector, NGC/NCS, and ultimately, perhaps MOST importantly, THE COIN.

Again, I am still working on the notion that the answer to "b" is no, and that graded coins may NOT be submitted under the newly established Modern Tier. I have a couple of ideas that could help Collectors Society Members, submitters in general who may be less skilled at cracking coins from holders (in other words, those of us who are NOT dealers or mass-coin-merchandisers), and again, most importantly, PROTECT THE COIN.

Since, presumably, this new Modern Tier conservation service is intended to be for the benefit of folks who are at least a majority of NGC Collectors Society Members, or otherwise affiliated with NGC, perhaps the following restrictions:

1. Exception: Coins that are already slabbed in an NGC holder (same other rules apply), may be submitted under the Modern Tier. This is in recognition of NGC's relationship with NCS as part of the CCG family of companies, and that the ANA has chosen NGC and NCS as their Official Grading Service and conservation service of choice for the ANA.

2. Coins holdered/slabbed by other TPGs (ANACS, ICG, PCGS, or others) will not be eligible for this grading tier. They MAY be submitted to NCS under the standard submission service levels.

3. Coins submitted for the NCS Modern Tier conservation service, which are ALREADY in NGC holders, will be subjected to a nominal coin removal fee of $1 per coin. We believe that this still represents an EXCELLENT value for this combined service, a new, and unique brought to you by two industry leaders, NCS and NGC.

BY WAY OF EXAMPLES, I'VE ATTACHED A NUMBER OF NGC GRADED "MODERN" COINS" WHICH WOULD APPEAR TO FALL INTO YOUR ESTABLISHED CATEGORY, except for the fact that they are already in NGC slabs. Therefore, I hope you will reconsider the raw coin requirement, even if it is for NGC holdered coins ONLY, with a nominal charge per coin as I suggested. While I am NOT by any means an expert in coin conservation, I am fairly confident that the photos I selected will demonstrate how they might benefit from this Modern Tier conservation service, and how it might be a HUGE draw from members who avoid the service now, due to the cost prohibitive nature of what are relatively lower value coins. However, at the cost being promoted, it is CERTAINLY an incentive to try it, especially if NGC holdered coins were included.

***************These are just suggestions, and I recognize that this is a new program just about to start (tomorrow), but I truly believe this could be SERIOUSLY "value-added" for your membership, and draw greater numbers of submissions to NCS if this were allowed. I know with recently submissions I got (and which I am expecting) from NGC, I could submit DOZENS of coins FROM THOSE ALONE under this program!

However, at the time I submitted them to NGC, I didn't think the damage was "that" bad but apparently it was. If I was more of an expert, I would just crack the coins out of the holder myself and send them to NCS under the new program. But I am not, and I am afraid of damaging the coins. Thus, I have offered you my suggestion, for your kind consideration. ****************************************************

ONE LAST SUGGESTION: I recognize that you had to draw the line "somewhere" on where "MODERN Coins" began for this new NCS service level.

In examining the NGC "Modern Tier" service level, NGC uses 1955 to the present to make that service level. I imagine there were MANY factors which went into effect when

established that date, which to an outsider could be seemingly arbitrary.

Similarly, the 1970 date for the MODERN TIER a NCS, to an outsider, may appear arbitrary. In the 1955 example with NGC, I am only guessing because I wasn't submitting coins to NGC a few years ago, but possibly, I wonder, could it have a retroactive glance of 50 years from the date the new policy/tier took effect?

1970 is not exactly a middle date between 1955 and the present, nor does it appear to be a significant date in "coin history."

I don't suggest going back to 1955 like NGC's Modern Tier. However I do have a request that you "Turn back time" in the immortal words of Cher. In this case, I'd like to see you turn back time to roughly 1964. It marked a serious change in U.S. coinage, and in the country. It was the end of "Camelot" as the country uncharacteristically moved from the Franklin Half Dollar to the Kennedy Half Dollar. It brought with it the Modern "era" to follow, including the Civil Rights movement, women's liberation, and so much more.

Aside from the return of commemoratives in 1982, and the Spirit of '76 items for the Bi-Centennial, circulating coinage didn't change much from then on (until 1999), and it would leave us with a respectable 44 years of "Modern History." By returning to 1964, in my humble opinion, it is an accurate reflection of where we were as a nation, and where we were as coin collectors. The time encompasses some "1sts" and "Lasts" -- the 1964 Kennedy being the last 90% silver circulating coin while being the first year of issue for this new Half Dollar, produced in record time, at the demand of the populous.

We saw the last standard Washington Quarter in 1999, with the issuance of the State Quarters program. We saw various nickel design changes. We saw the first actual historical woman featured on a circulating U.S. coin in what turned out to be the shortest lived dollar-coin series ever, the SBA, with designs taken partially from the SECOND shortest lived dollar series ever, the Eisenhower. So many changes happened in this "Modern" era from 1964, a shocking presidential assassination, to a moon landing, to then a named Native American woman being featured on a dollar coin as well, followed by the latest series of coins similar to the State Quarters, those being the Presidential Dollars.

Long winded though I may be, I respectfully request those those two items, for the aforementioned, and what I hope you will find, logical, reasonable reasons:

1. Accept NGC holdered/slabbed coins under the new NCS Modern Tier,even if that means adding a nominal per coin charge for the collector who wishes not to perform the "crack-out" him/herself, to PRESERVE the integrity of the coin, by NCS experts.

2. Adjust the date-range of the new NCS modern tier from 1970-present, to 1964-present.

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http://www.ncscoin.com/news/enews/2008/February/article2new.asp

NCS Introduces Modern Tier

NCS is pleased to introduce a new service level for modern coins.

Submit any uncertified coin struck from 1970 to present under the new NCS Modern Tier for $22.50. This one flat fee includes conservation from NCS expert technicians and NGC certification. Following conservation, your coins are transferred to NGC, where they are graded and encapsulated in the NGC holder. Please note that NGC does not grade coins with detrimental surface conditions. Coins not eligible for NGC grading will receive NCS details grading and encapsulation. Not genuine coins, or coins with altered dates or mintmarks, will be returned uncertified.