NGC Cert Photos are Horrible

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Just kidding!

Chris

 

1) The images are free, and done as a service so you can get an idea of whether the coin you're looking to buy is the same as the one at the time of slabbing with that number. It is a counterfeit deterrent, and the images are not intended to be used by you for advertising or to show off your coins (you can't even right click on them and save them by normal means -- though there are ways to get around this).

2) The images are scans. The through-put of items graded daily at NGC is simply too many coins per day to even think that a photographer could keep up. C'mon, let's be serious here, they'd need an army of photographers to keep up with the amount of coins they slab. It's not an issue of buying a few lights and a copy stand -- it's a sheer feasibility issue.

3) Comparing these to TrueView images is not a fair comparison. You are paying for the TrueViews. The NGC slab photos are more similar to the PCGS SecurePlus scans -- which are of equally poor quality, but still serve the purpose to see enough identifying marks on a coin to verify it matches your coin in hand.

4) My feeling is that the scans probably also serve as a bit of "insurance" for NGC. Imaging (scanning) is one of the final things done before your coins are packaged and sent back to you. So, if they get a complaint from a submitter that something happened to their coins in transit, they know it was in the process of shipping -- and they can file a claim with USPS. This is a pretty strong piece of evidence in such damage instances -- though damage claims are probably rare.

5) NGC offers a paid photography service. If you want professional quality images, then you pay for them. Now, with regard to where one can find those images online, I'm not sure. If you want an example of the quality of this service though, you can go to the NGC website and view the Eric P. Newman collection at this link, which was photographed in its entirety.

 

You're comparing apples to oranges. The scans of the slabs have nothing to do with proper images of coins. If that truly is a question you're asking yourself, then do you also think people think to themselves "why would I ever want to experiment with PCGS TrueView images, if the SecurePlus scans are beyond terrible." There is a disconnect in the logic.

My point was that there is little incentive for NGC to improve on something that is serving its current purpose. There are costs associated with changing the process or worrying about the artistic quality of the scans. One thing that I appreciate about the scans are that they are done in a consistent manner. So, at least I know they are NOT messing with the lighting or trying to misrepresent the coin in some way. Every coin is scanned by a machine with similar settings. The scans are decent enough to see marks and some details of the coin, so they serve their purpose of being an 1) anti-counterfeit mechanism, and 2) a form of insurance against damage caused in shipping the coins back to you.