I sent off my first ANACS submission (on a special) earlier this year and got them back today. Figured I would post some photos. And before it's said that none of these are worth getting professionally graded, yes I know - a fool and his money, etc. ANACS is cheap, no big deal. And the main reason for sending these in was to get the nickel attributed. Anyway, here's the box - no nice plastic slab box like the other guys, but it gets the job done: I'll post these in groups of 4. The first group is my 2014 Kennedy anniversary halves. Two 70s, two 69s - not bad. I'll take it.
Here's the 2nd group. The cent is AT and I sent it wondering if it would get by - it did not. You can see where something was applied to the coin, so it makes sense. But the die chip notation was a surprise. I'm pleased with the others. The Kennedy is the No FG one.
And lastly, a group of silver dollars I had on hand. The 1921 Morgan was a surprise - I thought it was AU but I guess maybe just a really weak strike? Curious to see what people think about that. The reverse in particular, but the obverse too, both show what looks like wear on the high parts - eagle's breast, the wreath, hair curl.
Anacs is a good choice for less expensive grading, especially when you have varieties that the others won't recognize. Also, the cardboard box is used by NGC. Only PCGS sends the fancier plastic boxes. As far as the 1921 Morgan, I would have guessed AU 55 or 58. It does look like wear to me from the photo but maybe it is a super weak strike.
These are great! Love the '14 silver Kennedy set; picked up two of these back in 2014 myself. And I really like that 1922 Peace dollar. Also, I'm a huge fan of getting attribution on the holder. I have a terrible track record of dedicating time with my loupe, comparing to high res images online, maybe a book or two, and locking in my own attribution. Only to come back 24-48 hours later and do a complete 180... if one of the TPGs can confirm the attribution for me, that's a few bucks well spent. I've also had the unfortunate luck of sending in a coin I was certain was type FS-xxx, only to have PCGS tell me "nope." That stings Side note: PCGS sometimes sends out cardboard boxes. In my limited submission experience they're only used for smaller and cheaper orders, but they do exist. I like 'em
I'm pretty sure that ANACS will research your coin for varieties as well. It really seems like they and ICG have a monopoly over the top 2 anymore. I like how those 2 go into deeper detail, especially with designations like ICG's SPL (Semi Prooflike) and ANACS's cameo DMPL. Thanks to the SPL being recognized, I have an 1881-S Morgan from PCGS that benefits with it.
Thanks - didn't realize PCGS did those boxes. They're kinda cool actually. Other than this ANACS one, I've only done 3 PCGS submissions. Yeah the Peace dollar is a beauty in hand. I just wish I liked ANACS slabs a little better.
In my opinion, the best thing about ANACS slabs is that you can see the coin identifying data when looking at a box of coins; you don't need to lift em one at a time to see the label. I'm surprised that PCGS and NGC didn't try to borrow that idea and incorporate it into their holders somehow.
Their old soap box slabs were classics. They should go back to that. I've got some slabs from various graders, PCGS, NGC, and ANACS. Just from my somewhat limited samples, I swear ANACs seems to be the harshest grader. Go figure. If I had a 5000 dollar coin, yeah, I'd send it to PCGS and get the maximum premium available. Otherwise, meh.
Yeah I have a couple soap bar ANACS slabs, they are cool. And I agree they're better than the current ones. But no moving backwards.
Maybe they should switch from yellow to gold. The yellow kinds of turns me off a little. They are no slouches at grading though. If anything, they are stricter than PCGS and NGC from the samples of grading I've seen so far.
Lon, on your 1921 Morgan, it might have been worth paying the extra fee for attribution. Looks like a probable VAM to me. There is a prominent die crack on the obverse. I just picked up one with a die crack, same year and mint, both obverse and reverse. Only reason I got it, and got it cheap. Mine is MS, but sadly, probably gets MS details grade. It amazes me why people ruin a perfectly good mint state coin by rubbing them.
I'm a bigger fan of Lon Chaney Sr. - but Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot was a great character as well.
