Can somebody walk me through the process? You don't let said coin out of your sight do you? Is it hard to find somebody to do it, or are there many reps that can do it? What on average is the cost involved?
When you get a coin graded you mail it in to the TPG and pay them for their service. The amount of the fees can vary widely depending on the value of the coin and service tier you choose. You can find all of that info on the TPG web sites. PCGS - http://www.pcgs.com/ NGC - http://www.ngccoin.com/
In addition to what Doug mentioned, you should educate yourself on grading coins as many denomination and series are not worth the cost of roundtrip shipping, submission fees, insurance, and you could wind up spending more for the service than the coin's value is, which would defeat the purpose. In addition to the book Doug suggested to you in your other thread Looking to understand, I would suggest Whitman Publishing's Red Book, by R.S. Yeoman, which contains the best information on coins, and a brief description of the grading scale, PCGS's Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection, and The Official ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins, just for starters. Submitting coins is not something to just jump into uninformed.
You want to go with a top tier third party grading co. if youre going to do it. Youll have to sign up, fill out the forms and mail it to them insured. You also have to pay for the return shipping and insurance. Grading costs are pretty high even for the cheaper service. The tpgs sometimes go to big shows and grade on site. I dropped one off with ngc for a cross over at a show. I dropped it off, filled out the paper work, paid $60 and picked up the coin the next morning around 10:30. It still isnt same day turn around because they are very busy from everybody taking advantage of them being there.
I submit through a local dealer that has accounts with NGC and PCGS. That way I don't have to pay membership fees and since the dealer usually has coins of their own to submit it saves on shipping. Also, the dealer can look over my coins to make sure everything is gradeable and worth grading. Usually, it costs me about $30-40 including my share of the shipping.
Thank you. Many of my fathers gold pieced were purchased in the70's, some have ms ratings just written on the little envelopes. I'll have to post a few pics soon to get opinions on whether they are worth grading
