I've purchased slabbed coins before but I've yet to submit any coins to any of the TPGs. I'm strongly considering PCGS to grade some of my 20th century classic commemorative silver coins, along with one of my late 18th century British coins (my avatar). Three coins are worth less than $300 each, and one is less than $3,000. I'm debating whether or not it's worth it to get the Gold membership to get the four free submissions (I know that there are other benefits to a PCGS membership, but let's isolate the free submissions benefit only, as traveling down to the various coin shows are a bit too expensive for me to consider). Here's the cost breakdown I have for 4 coin submissions for the two options I'm considering, silver and gold. From what I can tell, it appears that Gold membership is the best value when submitting 4 coins.... Please let me know if I'm missing anything and thanks in advance! PCGS Gold - Gold Membership: $149 - Return Shipping: $20.95 - Handling Fee (?): $10 x 4 = $40.00 (Does Gold membership cover the handling fee?) - World Coin Secure Shipment: $5 (If I have one world coin and the rest are US coins, do I need to add the secure fee to all of the coins regardless of where they're from?) Total $174.95 or $214.95 with handling fee PCGS Silver - Silver Membership: $69 - Economy Grading Service: $20 x 3 = $60 - Regular Grading Service: $32 x 1 = $32 - Handling Fee: $10 x 4 = $40 - Return Shipping: $20.95 - World Coin Secure Shipment: $5 (If I have one world coin and the rest are US coins, do I need to add the secure fee to all of the coins regardless of where they're from? I'm guessing no, but you never know...) Total $221.95 Other Costs - Initial Shipping to PCGS (Insured and Tracked) Other Questions and Notes: 1. If I mistake the value of a coin and one of them is worth more than $300, will PCGS simply charge my credit card? Or, what will happen? 2. 2 ½" x 2 ½" mylar flips for each coin, no doubling up 3. Quarterly special does not apply to the silver commemorative coins, so this benefit doesn't do much for the 4 coins I want to submit. 4. Anything else? Source http://www.pcgs.com/servicesandfees/
The value you assign to the coin is merely used for insurance purposes on the return shipment. They're not going to mess with what you put down. Why PCGS over NGC? NGC is much better for world coins.
I agree, but why PCGS as your one membership instead of NGC? NGC has better customer service, they're good for classic US (better than PCGS for some series), and hands down better for world coins. The only thing PCGS has them on is moderns really.
On another note, if I'm reading correctly, you're intending to use your voucher to cross multiple submissions. You can't do that (NGC doesn't let you do that either by the way). You have to use your voucher for ONE submission, so you can't mix US and world together on your voucher.
You've also figured on PCGS charging you a $10 handling fee for each coin. The handling fee applies only once for each submission (each form).
The PCGS website leads me to believe that you still have to pay the submission (handling) fee, but you can include additional coins on the same submission that are not covered by the voucher. The NGC voucher covers 5 submissions and includes the submission fee, but you can't include additional coins on the submission. Neither company covers shipping/insurance fees since these are actual costs they pass on to you.
If you really want to go with PCGS, why not just submit through a trusted dealer? As others have noted you have to submit four coins of one invoice type to use the "free gradings" (which aren't free at all...they are why you are paying for a membership...they are included in the membership fee is a better and more honest way of stating it). Seems you would get little if any actual benefit of being a member with submission privileges if you plan to submit nothing beyond these 4 coins. Just my opinion...
That's right - I always wondered why they didn't just say "0th" century. We skip over from 1st century BC to the 1st century AD and forget the math. Pure convention.
So, if I'm understanding correctly, the total would be as shown below for 5 coins (4 US commemorative silver coins and 1 world coin). And, I take it that I can submit the 1 additional (world) coin along with the 4 free voucher coins. PCGS Gold - Gold Membership: $149 - Return Shipping: $20.95 - Handling Fee: $10 - World Coin Regular: $20 - World Coin Secure Shipment: $5 Total $204.95 + Initial Insured Shipment to PCGS (Probably around $10-15) So, effectively, it'll cost me $44 per coin shipped both ways. Yikes! Gold doesn't seem to be worth it if you're an avid collector. I think Platinum is the way to go, with its 8 free coin gradings. And, diamond is at 8... why?? It should jump to 15 to make it more appealing.
I think you'd have to do 2 submission forms, which means two handling fees and two return shipping fees. The problem is you can only have one service level per form. The voucher would be US/Regular tier. The second service level would be World/Secure/and whatever you want, Economy,Regular,Express, etc. Anyone else picking up what I'm putting down? granted I've only done 2 submissions myself.
Because the first century started at 1 and ended at 100. The year 101 was the start of the second century and went to 200. The year 201 was the start of the third century, etc etc etc. They didn't skip any centuries. A lot of people (pretty much everyone) celebrated the millennium on new years eve 1999 that brought in 2000, but in reality the new millennium didn't actually begin until 2001.
If you have a relationship with a dealer who submits regularly (i.e., you buy from his store on a semi-regular basis), they will often submit coins for customers for the split cost of shipping (usually way cheaper than submitting on your own), and the actual costs of grading and encapsulation. Some other dealers may charge an additional per coin or per submission "convenience" fee. You'd just have to ask around at your local dealers. I know a few collectors and dealers here on these boards have also very kindly allowed others to piggy back on their submissions before.