NGC's Label Buyback Program

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

I just read about this last night and I think it's a pretty good idea.

 

The short of it:

In an effort to provide the most accurate data to NGC Census users, NGC will now offer a 50 cent grading credit for each NGC certification label that is returned to NGC for removal from its population database. This offer, which is effective immediately, is valid for all US, world and ancient coins....

 

...All NGC Collectors Society paid members and NGC Authorized Dealers are eligible to participate in this NGC certification label buyback program. An NGC grading credit of 50 cents will be issued for each NGC certification label returned to NGC. The credit will be posted to the member’s account.

NGC's full press release: http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=4438&label-buyback-program-

 

[AHFreak]

This is interesting. I actually remember a crackout guy telling me that pcgs used to do this a long time ago. He wasn't sure at the time if they still did but either way. This is a good move by NGC at least in my limited opinion. Anything we can do to improve/maintain the accuracy of the data available collectors/researchers.

 

This is awesome NGC.

[comicdonna]

I remember a picture that was posted years ago, on this forum. It was a huge pile of cracked slabs. Now would be a time to cash them in.

[Conder101]

They have both done it in the past. It seems to be a program that comes and goes. They do it for awhile, then they stop, then they start doing it again.

[RWB]

It has to be very frustrating for PCGS and NGC to have decades of authentication data, and not be able to do anything meaningful with it because of undocumented aliens (aka: "resubmissions/crackouts").

 

For those researching coin varieties these archives could be excellent sources, but the data have been so badly corrupted that all one can do is use them as indicators, and not as firm points.

 

(I tried the label thing a few years ago, but PCGS didn't like my labels. They rejected the ones I printed myself, and they sent back the ones from Skippy peanut butter jars....Couldn't please 'em.) [A bit of humor -- OK, not a lot, but it's Tuesday.]

[Nutmeg Coin]

If the incentives were greater for label return would they make a dent in the skewed population data? There was the case where a major dealer was sitting on a large number of labels, maybe they had collected them from others and a charitable action was done in tandem with the label return to the grading services. Other incentives might involve being entered in a high stakes lottery. A census could be done like the 10 year population census in the US with all owners of certified coins submitting lists with certification numbers and verifiable proof with anonymity guaranteed if requested. But there are too many rare coins they will not get records of because of the difficulty involved as some of them go away into climate controlled storage for 10 years or more .

[orifdoc]

The lottery idea is good. If they gave away a free High-Relief Saint once in a while (like Heritage does with their mail surveys) it would be more incentive than $0.50/label.

 

How would you like to be the poor soul tasked with scanning all those labels back into the database?

[lehigh96]

Does anyone know if DETAILS (Problem Coins) inserts are included in the program, or do they have to have a numerical grade?

[Nutmeg Coin]

Does anyone know if DETAILS (Problem Coins) inserts are included in the program, or do they have to have a numerical grade?

 

Details coins (and currency) are not in the census anyway so there would be no point of returning them.

[RWB]

PS: The population numbers NGC and PCGS publish are not from a true "census." They merely report voluntary submissions of coins.

 

(A "census" is a structured enumeration of all members of a population.)