1st grading I hope I get this right. 2 2

[Ronsama]

I'm new to the hobbie. So I'm going to send  4 coins there going to be proof Penny's. My question is how do I make shure I put down the fare market value of the coin? I think they should be pr 70 ,but the red book only goes to pr 65. I'm terrified I will fail to put down the right value.

[Mr.Bill347]

Proceed carefully! You must make sure the coin is worth the grading fee before submitting. For valuation , if in fact they are proofs, I would estimate them at pr66. Chances are you won’t achieve 69 or 70. IMHO few cents are worth the grading fee but not knowing what you have I could only guess

[Sandon]

    If you substantially undervalue a coin, NGC will charge you for the grading fee at the appropriate tier, and the coin will only be insured for the market value you put on the submission form in the event it is lost or damaged while in NGC's possession or in shipment back to you. The more serious issue, however, is that someone who is "new to the hobby" wants to submit coins to a third-party grading service. As someone who has been collecting coins since the early 1970s--some fifteen years before any such service existed--I find this concept puzzling.  It is more likely that you will overvalue the coins you submit and spend multiples of what they are worth on grading and processing fees and shipping. (Most proof cents dated from the mid-1950s on would not be worth the cost of third-party grading unless they were likely to receive extremely high grades of PF 69-70 RD, which would require substantial knowledge and experience to determine. Values for such grades can be found, for example, in the NGC Price Guide, NGC Coin Price Guide and Values | NGC).)

   Please review my initial reply to your previous topic regarding your 1881-O Morgan dollar. Respectfully, if you don't have sufficient knowledge of grading to determine an approximate grade and market value for your coins yourself, you should not be considering submitting coins to a third-party grading service.  Instead of spending (and likely wasting) money on this, you should protect your coins in coin albums or other appropriate holders (or their original government packaging if applicable). Your time and money at this point would be much better learning how to grade and otherwise evaluate coins yourself, which you may do in part through the print and online resources referred to in the following forum topics:

    Your education will also involve attendance at such venues as coin shows and coin club meetings, where you can examine a variety of professionally graded coins and speak with experienced collectors and dealers.

   If you are determined despite this advice to submit your coins to NGC, at least first read this article by an experienced professional numismatist: Jeff Garrett: The Art of Rare Coin Submissions | NGC (ngccoin.com).   

Edited January 13 by Sandon
add reference to NGC Price Guide

[EagleRJO]

In general I agree with holding off on submittals until you are better able to roughly grade and value coins yourself, with a few exceptions.  Why did you want to submit coins for grading?

[J P M]

On 1/12/2024 at 6:07 PM, Ronsama said:

I'm new to the hobbie. So I'm going to send  4 coins there going to be proof Penny's. My question is how do I make shure I put down the fare market value of the coin? I think they should be pr 70 ,but the red book only goes to pr 65. I'm terrified I will fail to put down the right value.

I find that new members that join NGC feel they must take advantage of their discounts on having coins graded. I like Sandon and Eagle and many others think you must learn to walk the walk before you run the race.  

[JKK]

There are very few proof Lincolns that would make monetary sense to send in for encapsulation/grading.

If you think you have PR-70s, great. What are the grading criteria for that level? Can you tell me even two? I'm not being sarcastic. I'm trying to help you avoid wasting $200. If that's of no interest to you, and your mind's made up, pay your tuition and learn it the hard way. Otherwise, I recommend you stop jumping the gun, start the long slow process of learning to handle and grade coins, decide what you like, and work toward a day when you'll know what's worth sending in and what's not.

One last-ditch effort to convince you. Have you any idea how much penny you could buy for that $200? Is there a universe in which you'd rather have four pieces of overpriced plastic than a whole bunch of really great actual coins? If there is, then I surrender; best of luck. The disappointment is likely to harm your interest in the hobby, and that's sad, but I tried hard.

If you'd like to maximize your value and develop a real understanding of what you're doing, stick around; don't send those in; and run stuff by us. If I were your advisor, I'd advise you first to buy one of the grading guides. If you like Lincs, great, start there. Take one of your cents, decide what grade you think it is, take sharp pics, and post them here with the grade you believe it merits. About 2/3 of the people here will overgrade it, but that's okay; just assume that the consensus is about 1/2 to a full grade high, and adjust for that. Keep doing that until you understand intimately the grade criteria. This won't take as long as it might sound.

[powermad5000]

You did not even specify what the dates are on the proof Cents you are thinking of submitting. Assuming they are modern proofs (1965 to date), this is most certainly NOT a wise decision. I highly doubt as someone new you would know how to determine a PF 70 from a PF 69 from a PF 68 from a PF 65. I would comfortably say none of them are PF 70. I could probably throw down a bet in Vegas on that and win my bet. Why do I say that? Early in my submitting learning stage I cracked out a proof set to send in the cent in it. One would think in a proof set it should have been cared for and carefully placed into the Mint packaging. Well, it came back as PF 66. The plastic is worth way more than the cent.

I suggest you immerse yourself in coins, coin books, online resources, and forget about submitting a single coin for the next at least two years and that is only if you DO immerse yourself fully into learning in this hobby. The TPG's are not going to "feel bad" if you sent in a lesser coin to be slabbed and "give you a break" on submission fees. They will take your $$$ anymore than they take mine, or anyone else who submits.

I do apologize if it sounds as if I am scolding you, but I am trying to save you some $$$ until you are more confident in your grading skills. Just as fyi, I collected and studied books and coins for almost 40 years before I ever submitted a single coin. And even after all that, my first submissions returned, well, let's just say not so good. I learned from that submission but I learned the hard and expensive way. After almost 40 years of collecting and learning.

[WeSat Coins]

On 1/12/2024 at 5:19 PM, Mr.Bill347 said:

Proceed carefully! You must make sure the coin is worth the grading fee before submitting. For valuation , if in fact they are proofs, I would estimate them at pr66. Chances are you won’t achieve 69 or 70. IMHO few cents are worth the grading fee but not knowing what you have I could only guess

I can confirm that I do own a 2002-S PF-70 graded by PCGS. Its listed value on PCGS is $200.00. I do believe that the previous comment was extremely accurate. I am most definitely not the normal case study, but rather the alternative. Just wanted to let you know it IS possible but definitely not the modt likely outcome most achieve. 

[Ronsama]

Thank you all for your help,and I will do my homework again thank you all.

[RWB]

Look for a coin dealer with PCGS or NGC submission privileges. Ask them to look at your coins before submitting them. He/She can give you a realistic idea of their condition, and the chances of getting a grade that is worth the grading fee.