NGC increasing value of coins when certifying submissions

[Grumps]

I recently sent in two separate sumbissions in one shipment to NGC. One was an earlybird and the other a modern. I love that you can watch the progress of your submissions online on the website and I check them every day to watch their status. When they first arrived, the earlybird was at a value of $550 and the modern was at a value of $485. I was excited to see this weekend that the modern coins had moved to scheduled for grading. The strange thing was that the value on the earlybird submission changed from the $550 to $1000. Would NGC change the value of the submission if they realized that the value of the coins was actually much higher than what I had initially submitted? I admit that I could have potentially undervalued some of the coins that I submitted and only put the prices that I paid for them. I had sumbitted a 1886-O Morgan Dollar that I questioned where the grade fell. As this dollar approaches MS60 and higher the price jumps tremendously. Could it be possible that someone looked at it and realized without yet grading it that it was going to be worth more than what I had valued it? It seems strange that the value of the submission almost doubled in value and it hasn't even been graded yet? Anyone have any ideas what may be going on?

 

Thanks,

Greg

[Scott_Schechter]

It looks like a coin that you had valued at $50 was mistakenly entered in at $500. Our error will be corrected so that you are not overchaged for insurance on return shipping.

 

Occassionally, insured values will change from the submission invoice during verification. This is never done based on an assumption of grade, but in cases of obvious errors. More frequently, a submitter will make a mathematical miscalculation on the submission form, which will result in a different total that that calculated automatically by our system.

 

 

[Grumps]

Thanks, although I wonder if I wouldn't prefer it the other way. One of the things that I have always worried about is the fact that when you send in raw coins you usually send them in thinking you paid $x.xx amount for them. After they are graded, they could take on a higher value and probably should be insured at a higher value coming back than what they were shipped in. Just like the example of the 1886-0 Morgan that I sent in. I insured it for $150. I honestly don't know what it will grade, but if it should happen to grade a MS-61, it is suddenly worth $680. Probably worth leaving that extra $500 worth of insurance in there for the return trip. Should we evaluate the value of what we think the coins will be for insurance purposes based on what we think they are going to grade before we ship them? While chances of loss or damage are low, it seems like there is a problem with this in the way the value is approached.

 

Thanks,

Greg

[Scott_Schechter]

On the submission form, you should specify "owners declared value." For the vast majority of our submitters this means the wholesale value of the coin based on assumed grade.

 

Another common way this is interpreted is as a fair amount the submitter would like to get back if the coin is lost or damaged. In many cases this is a bit more then their original cost, for example cost plus the grading fee and shipping (or some formula like cost+10%).

 

Both seem like sensible strategies when preparing your submission. You don't want to aggressively overvalue your coins or be too optimist in assuming grades, as this will lead to additional expense for shipping insurance and in grading fees. For coins with very large spreads between grades, such as the 1886-O Morgan, the latter technique works best.