A few weeks ago I sent a group of NGC graded English Hammered coins to PCGS to see how they would cross. I selected the "Cross At Any Grade" option because I wanted to see what would happen. This is one of those coins: Henry II Silver Penny, Turkil on York, S-1344. It had been graded EF-45 by NGC.
That's a very nice penny of Henry II and an interesting subject @Aethelred though I have now knowledge of the grading system and tend to purchase my medieval coins based on eye appeal. Are you seeing a demand for medieval coins to be slabbed? I've noticed a few high end gold pieces that have been graded, such as Edwward III Nobles, and would find the concept of a slabbed Henry III penny or Edward IV groat somewhat odd save for a true rarity. I would vote the following way:
Hi Red, I guess I have funny ideas about Medieval coins. My thoughts on slabbing of ancients are no secret, I am all for cracking them and do anytime I add a slabbed on to my collection. But, somehow I see Medievals differently. Perhaps it is because they tend to be thin and in my mind fragile, or perhaps it is because they often changed very little over long periods of time, or it might just be that I like the way they look in a slab, but I prefer my Medieval coin certified.
I can understand that and wont hold it against you @Aethelred You're still a great member of the medieval fraternity. Have you had your Richard I penny graded?
I guess this is a better collective noun for us, rather than the ‘bastard children of numismatics’ that I have been using...
Well 'bastard children of numismatics' does have a certain charm to it. Probably helps keep the riff raff away and prices down.
Why would you cross a world coin to PCGS when it's already in the best holder? PCGS will overgrade 1-3 steps. That doesn't make it correct.
Thank you for the kind words. As we speak, Richard the Lionhearted is soaking up some rays at Newport Beach.
I've done it several times. "Best" holder is in the eye of the beholder. One reason I drink the PCGS Kool-Aid is because I can't get a good picture of a coin when it's in NGC plastic with those ghastly, intrusive white prongs, and having the PCGS TrueView image is important to me. If PCGS is charitable by a few grade points, it doesn't bother me - better that than the opposite. I prefer PCGS for everything medieval and later, though I use NGC for ancients. There have been a few exceptions- I will keep a coin in the NGC plastic if it's an older (non-prong) holder. @Aethelred and I are both also experiencing a problem with the NGC "swelling slab" issue. "Bloated" slabs. At least three of mine have that problem, and I have one that's so bulged out from trapped gases inside the plastic, it looks like it's about to explode. This is something they need to address. (It's almost enough for me to jump on bandwagon with the "crack your ancients out and set them free" crowd, but since the rest of my collection is slabbed, I'm not quite ready to do that yet.)
I'll give you that, you can get better pictures in the PCGS slab compared to the NGC slab, however, you can get even better pictures of the coin raw. Ok so follow my logic here - I already know what the coin is, I can photograph it raw, I can self slab if I want it to be protected. So what's left? The attribution (if it matters) and grade, and PCGS does neither of those well for world coins. I just don't see the point of a PCGS slabbed world coin when they don't grade them correctly. I've had a grand total of 2 world PCGS coins that I thought were graded correctly and that also crossed the same. The rest of them have been 1-2 steps overgraded and a couple were problem coins that never would have gotten straight graded by NGC. For buying online that's a big problem for me because I don't want to pay for what I know is an inflated grade or problem coin just because it's slabbed. I could get slabbing raw world with PCGS if you're already a member there and they go along for the ride, and honestly, they actually do a really good job with world medals (better than NGC does, and you can quote me on that). I just don't get crossing a world coin to PCGS though. Might as well just crack it out.
I'll reveal the grade as soon as I can take a picture, stay tuned @Jaelus, because you might find the result interesting.
that older NGC style clear prong holder is nice, wish they didn't stop. As far as you crossing it over, I won't do it to any of my NGC/PCGS coins. They are fine the way they are. For submitting, since I have a NGC membership, I'll stick with submitting to NGC
