Does NGC Coin Grading depends on submission standards or declared value? 0

[Liverpool 4 ever]

Good Day.

The question I would like to ask you is not an easy one. In the good old days, that  would be before the Covid epidemic, I submitted my coins to NGC for grading using standard fees, which I believe we around $30 per coin. I just submitted another round of coins to NGC for grading this time using economy services of $23 per coin. 

I wanted to reach out to you with the following question. I have heard that PCGS is using only one grader for the economy category instead of the usual three graders. As I understand independent grading by multiple graders is now limited to premium coins in the standard category with declared value of $3,000 if I am not mistaken.

So, did I commit a cardinal sin by selecting the NGC economy category of services with a declared value of up to $300  for coins  some of which are more valuable than $300 IN TERMS of the grading service? In other words,  will my coins will be: one, graded by one person as opposed to three independent graders; and two, will my coins be looked down (graded lower) because I submitted them using the economy and not the standard submission category?  

Based on your experience, do you mind sharing  whether there is a direct correlation between coins' declared value and selected submission standard (economy as opposed to standard) and how NGS experts come up with the coins grade?

Thank you very much, Dan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VKurtB]

To my knowledge, and this is from NGC videos, NGC always uses three. It would not surprise me that PCGS uses one, but I do not know. PCGS strikes me as shortcut takers in areas that are not their core area of concentration - higher value classic coins. They’d really rather not even deal with lower and modern coins, but they don’t want to cede the business, either. All just my opinion.

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

If I am not mistaken, NGC always uses more than one grader regardless of the tier selected, and the coins are inspected by another grader after they are put into the slab and before they are returned to you.

I can say confidently, that selecting the economy tier does NOT mean the coins submitted are viewed as less than quality or as "junk" or "junkier". Most modern coins will never reach the $300 level but they are graded as top notch if the coin is. Also, you have some MS 65 Morgans say which are very nice coins but for years and mintmarks that are common will also not reach the $300 level. Remember, NGC has to stand behind their guarantee that every coin slabbed was put through unobjective grading to receive an accurate subjectival grade. If you submit a coin in the economy tier and NGC believes it to be worth more than $300, they will contact you via email and will move that coin into the standard tier as well as charging you the difference between the tiers. 

I do not know what PCGS does over there, as I do not submit coins to them, nor buy their slabs.

As for how NGC arrives at a coin's grade, I would guess they use typical ANA grading standards, possibly combined with their own set of standards as well.

Edited June 1, 2023 by powermad5000
spell check

[Liverpool 4 ever]

Very kind of you, VKurtB and Powerrmad!  Very helpful information indeed.

Last year I submitted to NGC a set of 8 coins which I believed were of significant value. Then I used standard tier and assigned coin values based on what I thought would be appropriate. In one instance I valued a coin $3,000 believing the coin would be in the MS 65 range. Much to my chagrin NGC only assigned the coin an Au-58 grade and half of other coins were found to be either cleaned or with environment damage.  So, that is the reason why this time I opted to go with the economy tier of grading and without high expectations.  In fact, I would be delighted to pay the difference if NGC finds the coins to be worth more than their declared values.

Best wishes to both of you, Dan

 

[powermad5000]

Sounds like some of my first submissions. I took those as a learning opportunity to improve my self grading (I did have several good coins in those submissions as well). Now when I submit, if I have a coin that comes back as cleaned I am usually caught off guard, and unless I intentionally sent a coin in that is AU or below, my submissions all come back straight graded MS. In fact, my last submission which is still there had my first time ever having a coin upgraded (I guess my 64 self assessed grade was too low so I'll definitely take that!).

The point I am making is to sit down with those coins you got back that you thought were a higher grade, look them over again (with a 10X magnifier or a loupe if you didn't the first time), and look at graded samples (eBay is a good resource to look at zooms of coins of the same year and type already graded) to see where you didn't get your self grading right. As for the cleaned ones, look for hairlines, look for the color to be off, or if the coin is too "shiny" but still having wear is another indication. There are other things to look for but that is the basics.

As your self grading improves, so will your submissions when you get them back. 

[VKurtB]

When I took a formal course on grading, my grading improved greatly. To me, NO PHOTOGRAPHS EVER are good enough to learn grading. You have to get lots of coins into your own hands. Not to put too hot a word on this, but to me, trying to grade from photos is pretty pointless, and yes, that includes books and websites for that very purpose. Coins are 3-dimensional, with complex reflective surfaces. Photos are a bad substitute very often.

Edited June 2, 2023 by VKurtB