NGC Stats

[gmarguli]

Does NGC release the stats on grading?

 

I'm curious about the number of submissions that you receive each month. With the raging fire across the street and the dealers swearing that they are sending more coins to NGC, I'd love to see the current submission stats.

 

I'm also curious about specific services. I've heard that most coins going thru the other company are modern coins. What about NGC? Has the modern service been a success since it was added? Are submissions for modern coins up since it was added?

 

What about the crossover rate. What percentage of coins cross (excluding cross at any grade)?

 

If you are willing to make this information available to the general public, any possibility of putting it on your web site?

 

I personally think it could be a good marketing tool. It'd be easier to get slab-biased buyers to consider NGC coins if you could point them to stats that show the market prefers NGC over that other service.

[MSalzberg]

Greg,

 

Our focus is not on monthly numbers. As a matter of fact, I had to check on this to get the information you requested. We have been extremely busy and the amount of coins we receive each month has exceeded 125,000 for a couple of years now. The real number that you may find important is the actual number of coins holdered and that has averaged 90,000 a month over the last six months. I believe we have graded more coins than all the other grading services combined over the last few years. It’s interesting to me that this volume is so important to so many. Based on volume I think it clearly validates NGC as the leader and we feel this has been the case for some time. I think numbers can easily be manipulated and therefore I have always been suspect of percentages and statistics reported elsewhere. For example, I know that a few other services report only coins through the door, not actual coins graded and holdered.

 

Modern coins as a percentage are the minority of our submissions but are steadily rising. This area has been a success in my opinion and is well represented in our Registry, which is inclusive of PCGS. We have always said, "Buy the coin and not the holder.” We have established ourselves on solid fundamentals.

 

We have no conflict of interest like others who compete with their own customers. We have become a resource to the hobby and industry by being innovative and offering tools for our customers. PhotoProof, which was introduced in 1992, has been a great tool for the collector and retailer alike. Our introduction of economical tiers coupled with our unparalleled Customer Service department and unequaled staff of experts make NGC what we are today. We are proud of the fact that NGC has over 1800 actual dealer members and thousands of members in our ever-growing collectors society.

 

The bottom line is that we are the industry leader but this is ambiguous since our perceived competitor is so different from us. When we come to work everyday at NGC we focus on grading and consistency. Our focus is long-term and how to best help the hobby, which in turn helps us. We focus on being innovative and leveraging our unique assets and not competing in any way with our customers.

 

Numismatic Conservation Service (NCS) was launched because there was a tremendous need for professional conservation and we knew they would do a great job at this. I personally had conserved coins while I was dealer 25 years ago just like many other dealers. The combination of skills and the breadth and depth of experience we have in all categories is far and away the strongest in the industry.

 

Did you know that Ken Krah, our international World Coin Expert, is considered the best grader in the industry on this category. Did you know that John Maben, a partner and senior grader, and myself were very successful dealers prior to joining NGC? Our latest partner Rick Montgomery, the former president of PCGS, is considered the top authenticator in the country, second to none. This nucleus gives NGC a team of graders that is by far the finest in the industry and will provide accuracy and consistency for the long term. I believe it also says a lot that our turnover of management and experts is low to non-existent.

 

The common denominator here is our people and our focus. We are the best in the country and we run a successful private company with a clear vision. We try to grade consistently and accurately and at the same time we try to do what's best for the hobby. We haven't lost perspective as our "competitors" have. I love coins and I'm a collector, I have coins that I collected 30 years ago. We respect this great hobby and will never embarrass our customers or ourselves by allowing serious conflicts of interest to affect our mission statement, which is to provide impartial and accurate third party grading with absolutely no conflict of interest. We do not compete with our customers by retailing or auctioning coins. We respect the icons in our hobby and don't embarrass them in a public way. We are not a public company nor do I think we should be. This is still a hobby and we will never lose perspective.

 

I estimate we cross approximately 50+ % of coins we see, but don’t keep monthly statistics on this. We try to cross coins that make the NGC standard without thought of any politics. We don't look at the population reports to see if crossing a coin will affect the registry or the value of that item. We do this because it is the right thing to do and people count on us to do the right thing without conflict of interest.

 

Allow me to ask you something. If I'm retailing coins and building sets for people and at the same time deciding if a coin should cross, do I have conflict of interest? What if I'm buying coins from my largest submitters to sell to my retail customers who are also customers of retailers that I compete with. Confusing? I think it is a lot worse then confusing and you know something, it doesn't need to be that way.

 

I also think people shouldn't be fooled with the perception that one service is more conservative than the other. If you put a $100 bill in a holder labeled $50, believe me it will trade for more than it is worth if you base the valuation on only what the label says is in the holder. I believe NGC gets the coins grade right the first time more than any other service, and our clients recognize that we do not try to generate revenue by undergrading or being inconsistent. We have a very open operation here and I would advise everyone to talk with and develop a relationship with a reputable dealer who can guide you through some of this unfortunate political nonsense.

 

As you can tell I'm not one for giving numbers too much credence as I believe they can and are manipulated. I think there are many more important things to focus on and NGC will continue to take the high road as we have over the last 15 years. The coin business and hobby is thriving, but needs greater stability. We’re here to provide that stability, day in and day out, here at NGC. You won’t see me on here much as I am very busy working to improve our service, but you can call me anytime at ext. 146 to discuss matters of interest.

 

Mark Salzberg

CEO,

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation

 

PS- Thanks for the inquiry. Hope you don't mind the long response.

 

 

 

 

[tgilliams]

Greg

 

Welcome to NGC Forums. What happened to you at PCGS is awful. But in the end HRH will pay for his decisions. Amazing the support you're getting at PCGS. Several have also left because of what they did to you. You're well respected and glad you can inpart your knowledge here, PCGS's loss NGC's Gain