NCG Versus PCGS

I know were all aware of the war between the two services. Most agree that they prefer PCGS(I do for two reasons.......resale value and better holders.) But what about grading? Everyone always says one is stricter than the other. I have seen both services over and undergrade about equally. I was curious if some of the more senior members, large dealers, and long-term collectors could go a step beyond this. What about HOW each service grades? Though my submission experience is rather limited, I have noticed that PCGS seems to care about more about marks/hits and NCG seems to care more about luster. This is mostly in terms of Pre-33 gold. Any input would be appreciated

 

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this is my input for coins from India NGC doesnt have a clue. They cant even figure out the country, read the right side up, distinguish between proof and prooflike, slab counterfeits etc. so unless its a british india coin or a replublic coin in english i will not send it to them but their customer service, courtsey, and turn around times are really good. I like their holders as they fit better in my holders. for others i dont care about ngc or pcgs both are good. for my american coins i prefer pcgs but thats because i get to benefit. this is my opinion only if someone doesn't agree then ill accept that i am not going to get into a flame war because i dont believe this is what the forum or i am about. i am just responding to the OP with my experiences.

 

this may or may not be true but this is why i prefer PCGS my lips are sealed

 

for indian coins and i was specific to that PCGS has not slabbed any counterfeits to my knowledge now you can argue that NGC grades more so thats the reason but i am not going to give my coins to a TPG that i know that dodesnt know their stuff. I see many examples at coin shows but no i dont have pictures. you can see it in the pagodas and you can see it in the restrikes and the coins where the language is not English

 

i am not saying PCGS is a holy cow by any means and i am saying the same thing believe what your eyes tell you. Remember all TPG's do is provide a service and past reputations count for naught if they take your money and do a poor job and all i am saying is that NGC sucks for grading coins from india based on what i have seen. Till about a year or so ago ICG was the best not PCGS so i have not drunk the cool aid from PCGS by any means

 

Forgive

I had a generic $10 gold indian slabbed by PC as a 62. I thought it looked more like a 64(sometimes you can't see everything when a coin is slabbed.) I sent it to NGC(only because I was not a PC member at the time.) and it came back as a 58. I cracked it out from the NG slab and looked more closely at the raw coin and could see breaks in the luster on the high points under good lighting. It was clearly a circulated coin in my opinion and I'm no expert. My point is with the 10's of thousands of coins and the limited amount of time spent grading each coin a few mistakes are going to happen with any service.

 

sorry for any confusion but GD and i were speaking of coins from India when we said indian

 

No worries. My point was that I don't think it's outrageous for any TPGS to make a mistake like what happed in my case. Perhaps with very valuable coins they would be more careful and take more time. Also, had that $10 indian been a rare date I probably would have thought twice about cracking it out.

 

I will agree with you if you include consistency as part of the package otherwise IMHO its PCGS

 

Does anyone have any ideas in terms of HOW each service grades in terms of what each looks for? GDJMSP mentioned ng being stricter in terms of Full bell lines and full bands etc. But what about luster, marks, strike and overall eye appeal? We all have seen an ms66 saint in a pcgs or ngc holder covered with copper spots and dirt. Seems that they don't account for dirt and copper spots in grading but if they say eye appeal how can they not consider this?

 

are you planning to slab to keep or to sell?

 

No real plans. But I like to slab if I feel a coin is undergraded. If a coin comes back too high I probably would sell it on ebay. If it's a really nice coin for the grade I would probably keep it for my collection.

 

its best you make your own decision here are my 2 cents

slabbing costs money so make sure you want to spend it
see which slabs are getting more money by going to heritage/ebay etc and then work towards maximizing your profit

 

you are asking a question that very few people can answer (I can only think of 1 guy). What you are asking in essence is how doe Miles Standish grade compared to Mark Salzberg compared to Rick Montgomery, etc. The answer to your question is dependant on who called in sick the day your coin arrives for grading, or who the TPG decided to send to finalize at the show, etc.

You're asking for a simple answer that simply doesn't exist.


In regards to your comment about copper spots on gold, they are an indication of originality. It is unfortunate that most generic gold has had them removed.

 

It has also been my limited experience that PCGS seems to bb a coin a little more readily than NGC. Although I have never submitted a gold coin, so I don't know if the same standards apply. And, NGC will bb a coin in a heartbeat...I just think PCGS is quicker to pull the trigger on this one issue.