Coin Grading Services

[SteelPenny-migration]

I have been wanting to get coins graded. The main grading services PCGS and NGC are my two preferable services. I have never gotten a coin graded. The problem is, PCGS Is REALLY expensive! it costs $20 for a regular coin, plus $20 shipping! Plus you need a membership with them! It all adds up and is way to pricey for me ! What do you guys recommend?

[FadeToBlack]

I recommend either piggybacking on somebody else's submissions if you just have a couple coins, or otherwise, save them until you have 15-20 ready to go.

[bstrauss3]

Join ANA and you qualify for a courtesy NGC membership.

 

ANACS and ICG are both lower cost, and their certified coins qualify for eBay listings, but they are generally not as well respected.

 

 

[MarkFeld]

I recommend checking in advance, to be sure it is worth the expense to have your coins graded.

[jom]

I have been wanting to get coins graded. The main grading services PCGS and NGC are my two preferable services. I have never gotten a coin graded. The problem is, PCGS Is REALLY expensive! it costs $20 for a regular coin, plus $20 shipping! Plus you need a membership with them! It all adds up and is way to pricey for me ! What do you guys recommend?

 

Getting coins graded is expensive. So you have to:

 

1) Ask yourself WHY do you want them graded? Are you planning to sell or just use the slab for protection? Registry?

 

2) Then you try to figure out whether the coin is worth grading. If it's a $100 coin I'm pretty sure I would avoid the $40 cost of grading. However, if it's worth $1000 then $40 isn't bad at all.

 

3) The hard part about predicting a value is whether you can do a rudimentary grading of the coin YOURSELF before you send it to the TPG. If you can't you need someone to help. Sometimes the coin might be in a condition that if the TPG goes one way the coin would have been worth grading. If it goes the other way (lower grade)...it might not be worth it. A good example of this are MS/PR 70 modern stuff. Often only a 70 will make it worthwhile to grade.

 

Why not ask here? If you have some decent photos we might be able to help. It's worth a try, no?

 

jom

[Nutmeg Coin]

I try to recommend people get a couple sets of eyeballs that are experienced to check out the coin before submission for approximate results. Every submitter I know gets nasty surprises regularly. Twenty bucks is actually pretty close to par for the course these days except for the cheapo options like ICG for ten. I recommend combining with a good dealer for PCGS or NGC, heck, you might get better results that way too.

[SteelPenny-migration]

Thanks for the help guys!

[bstrauss3]

One other thought...

 

You may be in the position where you have started to learn how to grade a specific series or range of coins and now you need somebody to check your work. Slabbing provides that check and provides protection for the specimens, albeit at a non-trivial cost.

 

 

[RWB]

Take the ANA grading course first. Leran how to grade - you do not need to pay outrageous fees for someone to do what you can do yourself in most instances.

 

"An educated consumer is out best customer."

[coinsbygary]

You might try taking your coins to your local dealer who has submission privileges for their analysis. I did this once and the dealer pointed out a few coins with surface conditions that would prohibit a full grade.

 

The dealer even pointed out that one of my coins was a fake! Fortunately, I was able to return that coin to the e-bay seller for a full refund and I learned a very valuable lesson.

 

Today, because of that lesson I only buy key-date and gold coins that are already certified by either NGC or PCGS. In fact I try to buy all my coins certified if at all possible.

Gary

[MarkFeld]

You might try taking your coins to your local dealer who has submission privileges for their analysis. I did this once and the dealer pointed out a few coins with surface conditions that would prohibit a full grade.

 

The dealer even pointed out that one of my coins was a fake! Fortunately, I was able to return that coin to the e-bay seller for a full refund and I learned a very valuable lesson.

 

Today, because of that lesson I only buy key-date and gold coins that are already certified by either NGC or PCGS. In fact I try to buy all my coins certified if at all possible.

Gary

 

Unfortunately, there are also many counterfeit coins in convincing counterfeit certified holders - especailly on Ebay, at flea markets, etc. Buy only from reputable sellers who have well established/good reputations.

[Dave1384]

 

ANACS and ICG are both lower cost, and their certified coins qualify for eBay listings, but they are generally not as well respected.

 

Why ?

[Conder101]

To a large extent simply because they aren't PCGS or NGC.

[Curry]

 

ANACS and ICG are both lower cost, and their certified coins qualify for eBay listings, but they are generally not as well respected.

 

Why ?

PCGS and NGC just got a good reputation over time.