Crossing from ICG to NGC

[Hard Times]

There has been several different threads presently discussing whether specimens in ICG holders should be crossed or cracked and sent to NGC or PCGS. I want to give you an example of a crack out I did this year. Granted it is a Hard Times token, but it shows that cracking ICG's should be considered on a case by case basis. I bought this HT token at FUN in January, where I had the advantage of viewing it before purchasing. I bought it because I needed HT-171 and this one had all of the attributes that I look for when buying old copper - clean surfaces and a strong cartwheel luster, and not messed with. Like many HT planchets, there is evidence of corrosion either on the dies or the original planchets, so you see roughness on the surfaces. But nevertheless, this was clearly an excellent specimen that was not altered and thus ungradeable. My reason for crossing was because my HT collection is in NGC holders. I expected it to come in at MS63 to MS64 given my 'conservative' grading perspective, and got a pleasant surprise.

 

So the moral of this story is, if you crack out from an ICG holder with the idea of getting it into a NGC or PCGS holder, know your coin. ICG can be conservative in some cases, not always are they liberal. I have only tried to 'cross' an ICG or ANACS in its holder once. It was a seated half I sent in to NGC in its ANACS holder. It went from a 62 to a 61, and by comparison to other NGC 62's, this was a far better coin. Moral of that story, don't cross, crack, but again, be sure you know what you are doing first.

 

 

[johnny9434]

nice tokens

[Hard Times]

Johnny, thanks. Actually just one that went from ICG to NGC.

[Old Pueblo]

That is a very nice surprise indeed!

[James_OldeTowne]

Where ICG is most often in flat-out wrong is at the high end of MS. I virtually never see a coin in an ICG MS-68, MS-69 or most egregious of all, MS-70 that is suitable for the grade.

 

At about MS-63 and below, they are usually reasonable, and in your fortunate case, they can be conservative.

[Coinsman63]

There has been several different threads presently discussing whether specimens in ICG holders should be crossed or cracked and sent to NGC or PCGS. I want to give you an example of a crack out I did this year. Granted it is a Hard Times token, but it shows that cracking ICG's should be considered on a case by case basis. I bought this HT token at FUN in January, where I had the advantage of viewing it before purchasing. I bought it because I needed HT-171 and this one had all of the attributes that I look for when buying old copper - clean surfaces and a strong cartwheel luster, and not messed with. Like many HT planchets, there is evidence of corrosion either on the dies or the original planchets, so you see roughness on the surfaces. But nevertheless, this was clearly an excellent specimen that was not altered and thus ungradeable. My reason for crossing was because my HT collection is in NGC holders. I expected it to come in at MS63 to MS64 given my 'conservative' grading perspective, and got a pleasant surprise.

 

So the moral of this story is, if you crack out from an ICG holder with the idea of getting it into a NGC or PCGS holder, know your coin. ICG can be conservative in some cases, not always are they liberal. I have only tried to 'cross' an ICG or ANACS in its holder once. It was a seated half I sent in to NGC in its ANACS holder. It went from a 62 to a 61, and by comparison to other NGC 62's, this was a far better coin. Moral of that story, don't cross, crack, but again, be sure you know what you are doing first.

 

 

The only thing this proves is the same coin, or token in this case, in the same condition, sent to two different TPGs for grading, has two differeing opinions on the grade.

 

One grades it 63, the other grades it 65.

 

Want to further experiment, crack out of the NGC slab, and submit the token to PCGS and see what they grade it.

[ant]

but we have also seen coins go from NGC to NGC with different results also.

[James_OldeTowne]

but we have also seen coins go from NGC to NGC with different results also.

... and PCGS to PCGS.

 

Inconsistency is the one constant in grading.