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"Across the street" ?

Started by MA_Coins-migration,

22 posts in this topic

Tradedollarnut

Tradedollarnut

Posted
Posted

First, define the criteria you wish us to use to rank them. Possible criteria are:

 

Prices realized on average for the grade given

Consistency to their own standard

Consistency to what I feel the standard is for the grade

Holder construction

Buy/sell spreads

Highest price realized taking grade/price into consideration

Customer service

 

etc

 

Without knowing the criteria used in the ranking, any such ranking is worthless.

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DaveG

DaveG

Posted
Posted

Generally speaking, PCGS, NGC, ANACS and ICG are all considered professionally-run, respectable grading services.

 

Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

 

If you are a collector of ultra modern coins, then you probably favor PCGS-slabbed coins, especially if you are a participant in the PCGS Set Registry.

 

If you are a participant in the PCGS Set Registry, then you favor PCGS-slabbed coins.

 

If you are buying coins to resell on the Internet, then you probably favore PCGS and NGC slabbed-coins (depending on the type of coin).

 

ICG and ANACS are currently going through some changes: The president of ICG just joined ANACS and ICG has hired a couple of new graders in the past year.

 

Your best bet is to learn how to grade coins yourself, then you won't care which plastic the coin is in.

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Morgannut

Morgannut

Posted
Posted

I seriously doubt there is any favoritism "across the street", just 50% of the collectors can't grade very well. Bigger dealers often get upgrades that collectors don't.. it will happen for you too if you send in 250 coins a shot 10 times each.. The dealers fail to mention all their failures.

...As for the best Services, I've found that customer service is sometimes inversely proportional to to ranking. So I just have my dealer submit stuff and never worry about favorites or aggrevation.

confused.gif

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James_OldeTowne

James_OldeTowne

Posted
Posted

((( So.. How would everyone rank the grading companies 1-5 )))

 

I don't like to "rank" services, but here is what I see as their various strengths:

 

BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE - NGC barely squeaks ahead of ANACS right now. In my personal, actual experience, PCGS has been the worst. Even lowly PCI has been better than PCGS.

 

BEST TURNAROUND TIME - PCI. I've had coins in and out of PCI in three days at an "economy" level. PLEASE don't ask me why I've gotten coins graded at PCI (but if you must know, it was at customer request ....).

 

TOP QUALITY HOLDER - SEGS is tops. There's no argument here, as they have the toughest plastic, best labeling system, and most informative label.

 

BEST HOLDER AESTHETICS - ANACS, at least as long as the smaller capsule is available. I love a slab that still fits in a 2x2 box.

 

BEST SUBMISSION METHOD - ICG, at least in theory, due to the "third party submission" that ensures anonymity of the submitter. Frankly, I think this is why "big" dealers shy away from ICG, because they can't get "favors" as can some of the others, again, at least in theory.

 

MOST CONSISTENT GRADING - NGC, and no, I am not particulary biased. I think PCGS tries to be most "conservative", and for some reason, many collectors think that is somehow a good thing, but the fact is that being consistent is more important than being conservative. If they were consistently conservative all the time, PCGS would be the best hands down, but there is to much political motivation that goes into gradeflation.

 

BEST MONEY-MAKING OPPORTUNITY - it's still PCGS. As long as there are clueless fanatics who look at the corporate logo before they see the coin, this will remain true.

 

FEWEST DOCTORED COINS - ICCS, the Canadian service. None of the U.S. services is particularly stellar in this regard. I've been burned too many times (even by PCGS - see the Norweb Incident) to ever trust buying certified coins sight-unseen again.

 

BEST CONSERVATIVE GRADING - ICCS, once again, a non-U.S. service.

 

Finally, BEST SOURCE FOR LAUGHS - is still ACG, although Numistrust is trying really hard to take over this top ranking. grin.gif

 

James

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cointagious

cointagious

Posted
Posted
FEWEST DOCTORED COINS - ICCS, the Canadian service. None of the U.S. services is particularly stellar in this regard. I've been burned too many times (even by PCGS - see the Norweb Incident) to ever trust buying certified coins sight-unseen again.

 

 

I popped a $5 gold out of an ICCS holder a few months ago. Bent. None too happy. Their grading, in general, is excellent and a well hidden secret.

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