Hi, I just recently bought a 81-s Susan b Anthony dollar. It's type 2, but how does this work during pcgs grading? Do I have to pay for the variety service as well. Also, Do you recommend PCGS over NGC or are they the same. I've never had any coins graded, but I've been collecting them throughout my entire childhood. So as an adult I figured it was time to get serious. Thanks for the help guys.
When you send it into NGC/PCGS they will note it automatically. You don't have to pay extra for that or request anything about it. As for the two companies, I prefer PCGS for my SBAs. They cost a few dollars more to grade, but also sell for a bit higher too. Good luck.
"It depends". That's the $64k question. First question - No offense meant here, but you don't really need to get coins graded to "get serious" about collecting, or organizing your collection. The plusses of grading to me are to: 1)verify authenticity, 2)build a registry set and 3)increase liquidity of the coins if you ever want to sell them to the general market. There's plenty of serious collectors out there who don't have their coins graded. The issue in today's internet world is that you may have a harder time selling them to the masses without them being graded. However if you're not planning on selling, then really there's no reason not to go the plastic 2x2 holder route with labels and stickers to organize everything for yourself. But, do what you like. I do both, for different reasons. Now, that tangent aside, to your original questions: Anything typically with a "FS" designation to it will require the attribution fee for most TPG's. Coins which are just "types", will not. For example in the Ike world, there's the 1971-D "Friendly Eagle" variety, which is also marked as FS-901. This requires the $24 attrib fee. Then, there's the 1972 Type 1,2,3. The type 1 & 3 do not require the $24 fee, but the type 2, since it's also known as the "FS-901", does. Meanwhile the 1976 Type 1,2 coins, those do not require the attrib fee, those are just types. I've never graded a SBA, but I'm going to assume those are just "types" and don't require it. A quick call/e-mail to their customer service will clear a lot of that up, quickly. As for services, it also depends on the coin series which one you might want to use. typically PGCS holds a higher resale value than NGC, in general, but the gap is closing. However, NGC does have much cheaper pricing for grading in general, and a pretty good discount ($15 opposed to PCGS' $24) for their variety attribs, which if you have many, may make more sense to go that route. Again, for Ikes, there is definitely a PCGS bias, where they are typically more strict in their grading, and have higher resale return for higher grades, sometimes by multiples, than NGC. For other series the two may be closer, and I'm sure there are some series where NGC is considered just as good or better.
PCGS is caught between the old and the new where the "Old" represents established and accepted RedBook varieties while the "New" represents new varieties along the lines of "CPG" Varieties. By that, I mean that some varieties have been around since "before" the CPG. The collecting community (dealers and collectors) felt that these were collectible varieties that collectors should strive to look for. These coin received original PCGS Coin numbers which usually were 4 digits long. When the CPG came out, it listed some "established" and some "new" varieties that are popular among the various coin organizations and groups that specialize in a certain Type or Series of coins. (i.e. ALL Nickels vs Jefferson Nickels. All Quarters vs Barber Quarters) Back around 2005/2006, with the release of the COG Fifth Edition Vol1, collectors began wondering why certain varieties within the CPG were not "recognized" or "attributed" by PCGS since no "coin number" existed for the specific varieties. I distinctly recall David Hall saying that PCGS would attribute and grade any coin which appeared within the CPG. (Keeping in mind that the CPG originally only addressed cents and nickels whereas the 5th Edition Vol 1 addressed all other coins.) Since "established" varieties which PCGS already recognized and attributed were included in the CPG with an "FS" number, PCGS decided that there would be TWO version of these coins. One with the original attribution (such as the 1972/72 DDO perhaps the 1964 Accented Hair Kennedy Proof)) and one with the CPG Attribution (1972/72 DDO FS-101 and 1964 Accented Hair FS-401). Since both versions have equal weight within the Registries (standard vs FS Numbered slab labels), it behooves the submitter to KNOW which coins are pre-CPG attributable and which coins are NOT. The difference can save the submitter $24 per coin in attribution fee's with the exact same results! For the OP, there are two different coin numbers for the 1981-S SBA Type 2 coin. Specifically: 9595 = 1981-S SBA Proof Type 2 which is attributable at just the grading fee AND 395259 = 1981-S SBA Type 2 FS-501 which will cost the submitter the standard grading fee PLUS the $24 attribution fee! The submitter MUST use the appropriate coin number when submitting the coin since PCGS "may" default to the $24 attribution version which, IMO, is just a waste of money. So, my advice and response to the OP's question is to simply indicate the 9595 coin number on the submission form and state that its a Type 2 coin in the Variety Column. The coin will get graded, attributed, and all for just the $16 Modern Coin Fee instead of a $40 combined fee. Make sense?
