Hi all: Started a liberty nickel collection. They're in pretty good condition and I want to slab them. Which company should I go with. Been getting most of my coinage slabbed by PCGS but I find they are extremely conservative with their grading. Which company would be a better choice for this type of coin. Thank you.
If you just want to sell them eventually, I'd offer my opinion that a PCGS AU50 1898 nickel will sell for more than a NGC AU53 1898 nickel.
I don't know if that's true. Typically if both are AU50 the PCGS will sell for a little more...but if the NGC coin is graded higher it will sell for more normally.
If you're simply looking to slab for your collection and possibly create a registry set, I would say go with NGC. They're cheaper, and you'll get more submissions and things done with the same money. If you're planning to ultimately resell them for max profit and that's your main goal, then I would say go with PCGS. At least with Ikes I'm finding the grades are indeed tougher, but then again the resale on PCGS is much better because of that very same reason. I've seen some of the same grades side by side and even though my grading skills are still rudimentary I can see differences in the two that make NGC seem to be 2nd best. However, the gap isn't very big in most cases from what I've seen in my small sample lately. I agree with Camaro above to a degree. If you have a PCGS MS-66, and an NGC MS-67 of the same coin, the NGC will sell for more. However, it's possible the coin doesn't deserve the grade and you might end up with an undergraded/overpriced coin you can't sell for top dollar unless you find someone buying the label, not the coin (not that there's anyone to ever do just that... . Good luck.
I still say equal. Sometimes certain PCGS coins sell for a little more. It depends--to me, they are effectively equal in grading and value for the coin.
I think having an overgraded coin in either holder is equally possible. I do agree that for some series PCGS is tougher but for others NGC. I don't collect high grade Ike's so I can't speak for them...but I wouldn't be surprised if PCGS is stricter with them. However, my experience in general (despite being stricter on some types and looser on others)...PCGS graded coins do seem to realize slightly higher sales prices for the same grade. Now, that just might be my own experience and not accurate, but that's what it seems like. Also, it seems to me that NGC tends to be more consistent than PCGS. Also, one thought on "buying the label" verses buying the coin. I'm one of the few around here that doesn't fully subscribe to the "buy the coin, not the slab" line of thinking. While I 100% agree that when buying a coin, you should evaluate the coin as if it were raw and decided for yourself if the grade (and price) is correct...I disagree that the slab does not have value. You see, the graders at PCGS and NGC are experts in this field. They are considered to be among the best. Their opinion and evaluation of the coin adds a certain market security and insurance to the piece. That security/insurance does have a value. Is the COIN in the slab worth more than it was raw? No. But, the combined package of slab and coin is worth more than coin alone.
I feel that once it becomes common knowledge that a TPG is more lenient or strict on a series, that variance will be clear in the sales price. Until it's common knowledge, someone may cross a bunch of coins to sell to uneducated buyers and try to stay ahead of the curve. I'm not saying it would or would not be ethical to use this information in this manner, and I think everyone would have to use their own judgment.
Not sure that is unethical, what if it is actually one of the TPG's being too strict, don't you deserve full value for the coin? Mike
I recently got back into collecting and I immediately noticed that PCGS coins appears to demand a slightly higher premium than NGC. But as I dig deeper into this hobby and begin to spend more money and more expensive coins I scrutinize them much harder. I was looking for a flying eagle in about VF35. Nothing expensive but just enough to make me picky. I found 3 real fast on ebay. 2 were about $105 and one was $125. All graded exactly the same PCGS. I began to look at the 2 at $105 to see which I liked best. Both were OK but then I looked at the one for $125 and bam it was 10x the coin. Don't know if it was under graded XF or the others were over graded but it was obvious to me it was worth the extra $20. I have questioned TPG labels since and have learned to buy the coin and simply rely on the grade to make sure it's problem free. I have seemed to notice that when searching for particular coins I find more graded by one TPG than another. Just from my experience I see way more 1/2 and large cents graded by NGC yet when looking for Morgans I see way more PCGS. Don't know if that's a fluke or a reality. I know that just based upon set registries NGC seems easier to get along with by allowing other TPG slab to be included. They kind of share their sandbox in a sense.
One thing to consider too...is there are a couple different ways to evaluate the coin. The TPGs do a pretty good job with market acceptability, but the technical grade may not always equate eye appeal. Meaning, those 3 coins may all have had the exact same amount of wear...so technically they have the same grade. But, one may have a ton more eye appeal and be "nicer." Often, this means that coin comes at a premium cost. Perhaps it was undergraded...or perhaps it just had more eye appeal. Remember, coins that grade the same (even if graded correctly)...may look very different.
Totally understand. I was looking at wear and it was surprising how much more wear the less expensive 2 had.
I'm not 100% "buy the coin at all costs" either, so I agree with you. There's instances I buy the holder/label just because of it. My point was mainly to identify his goals, whether resale or keeping in his collection, and that should be a bigger factor in where to go and whether it will really matter in the end. For example, I'm building Ike registry sets, and there seems to be a bias towards PCGS for being "harder" on the series, meaning you're less likely to achieve say an MS-66 on certain ones, and there's a large gap between MS-65 and MS-66 prices. But, that price difference is much larger for PCGS coins than NGC coins of the "same" grade, because NGC seems to have a wider range of coins that will make MS-66, so their resale is accordingly lower. This is where "buy the coin" comes into play... it is possible to find cheaper MS-66 NGC coins, successfully cross them over to PCGS at MS-66 there, and make out a decent profit even beyond the cost of re-grading. But in that case it's all about "buy the coin". Here I would be sticking with PCGS for the Ikes for that reason. Conversely I have some toned ASE's that I want to assemble into a registry set. But I'm going to go the NGC route there because it's cheaper to get done through them, and I like the look of the contrast of the white holder to the toned coins. Here, I'm more concerned about looks and filling the registry set at the lowest cost to me, than I am about reselling it for top dollar later (it is after all bullion at the core, but I don't want to kick off that holy-war right now... ).
Right or wrong, the trend has definitely been preference toward PCGS. I don't actually have a strong opinion myself on which grading service may or may not be better, but everyone else I come into contact with leans pretty hard to the PCGS side. At the Long Beach show, PCGS ran a special where if you crossed an NGC coin to them and it didn't cross in the same grade or higher, they didn't charge you for the submission. I heard from another dealer they had 8,000 submissions the first day (granted, I don't know if that's true or not). They were absolutely slammed with people clamoring to cross their "inferior" NGC slabs to PCGS ........
As a seller, I've been losing money on NGC slabbed coins. 1800's U.S. type stuffa. No one wants them. They demand PCGS.
I think that is because their coins do realize slightly higher prices. But, I don't think that is because they are a better company. I think it has mostly to do with their registry being more exclusive. Only PCGS coins can be in the PCGS registry. Both PCGS and NGC coins can be in the NGC registry. I think the love of registries (created by the TPGs to promote their product) has made PCGS coins a little more spendy.
I'd be curious how many crossed as same, how many higher and how many lower. That will at least show you how they compare to PCGS standard. Of course if they were graded still in NGC slabs that could cause a bias depending on what PCGSs motive was. Don't cross many and discredit NGC or cross or upgrade lots and make lots of money. These companies are still relatively young in the grand scheme of longevity and I'm sure the reputations will cycle every decade or so. It seems to lean to PCGS now but that may fade.
