Is ICG really as bad as many people say?

I am a Jefferson Nickel specialist so the overwhelming majority of my submissions are Jefferson Nickels. That said, I have submitted coins from every series in the 20th Century with the exception of Barber Dimes and Liberty Nickels and some of the moderns.

I see your point about having an affordable grading option, but when it comes time to sell your collection, you may regret the decision to save money in the grading process when you see how little your coins in 2nd tier slabs realize. And if you are not planning to ever sell your coins, you heirs will inherit that same shortfall.

 

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This all assumes that the TPGs never fall out of favor of course. Didn't one of the currency grading companies (it might have been PCGS) rebrand or get bought and now nobody wants them anymore? I'm not convinced that long term any of these companies are going to be worth it.

CU is being purchased. I doubt much will change...but you never know. In 10 years, PCGS may no longer be in business.

 

You have a good point, but I would be much more concerned about either ICG or ANACS failing and closing up shop than I would either NGC or PCGS collapsing.

 

Mismanagement has killed many once great companies.

 

That's true...but then again from a selling point of view a lot of buyers consider those raw coins anyway. There isn't nearly as much at risk.

I swear that one of the major currency grading brands had this issue. One of the big trusted ones. I'm not a huge graded currency guy so I can't remember the details.

 

My point is that ANACS & ICG are much more likely to suffer from mismanagement than either PCGS & NGC.

In fact, based on their social media marketing, I would say they already are.

 

You are probably right, the smaller companies are more likely to fail than the larger companies. However, I disagree with you about the social media concerns. Different companies with different goals use different marketing. I suspect the owners of ICG aren't really trying to directly complete with the big 2.

You made the comment earlier about "when it comes time to sell your collection..." and depending on how old you are, that could be decades down the road. I'm 35...hopefully my children won't be inheriting and selling my coins for 50-60 years. I'm not convinced that any of these companies will still be around or having influence at that time. So...for coins I'm not planning on selling, I don't really care who slabs them as long as I agree with the grade/price.

 

PCGS is 34 years old, what makes you think they won't be around 50 years from now?

And nobody is saying that ICG should have the social media presence of either NGC or PCGS, but to effectively have no social media outreach at all in 2020 is absolutely foolish.

 

Lehigh96, posted: "I was the one disputing that ICG is content where they are, so thank you for proving my point. [??? Was your point that ICG will always be in the second tier where they wish to STAY?] That said, expanding revenue is not the same as increasing market share, as previously discussed. [As long as we continue to gain more customers and increase the bottom line, who cares if the market expands or contracts. I hope all the TPGS continue to prosper and have happy customers.]

I don't really care why you got banned, my point is that if you were acting as an ICG representative who was supposed to "monitor the chat rooms", then getting banned for any reason is an abject failure of your assigned duty.

Neither do I. I post to share knowledge and learn things not to play nice and make friends. Unfortunately, my CU alt does not give me any pleasure EXCEPT beating their security features.
My use of "monitor" was misleading. Perhaps "wave the ICG flag" would have been better. I'm very pleased with what I did over there in the short time I was allowed to post. You and I have a different idea of "failure." Nevertheless, you make a good point. NOT!

Sorry Skip, I will take the absolute mountain of information available anytime I want from PCGS Coinfacts over a 1 time conversation with a TPG grader.

As a nickel expert, you probably know more than they do.

Lehigh96, posted: "I see your point about having an affordable grading option, but when it comes time to sell your collection, you may regret the decision to save money in the grading process when you see how little your coins in 2nd tier slabs realize. And if you are not planning to ever sell your coins, you heirs will inherit that same shortfall."

Hopefully, anyone who reads the discussions on ANY coin forum already knows this when selling coins. That my be the main reason ANACS and ICG are considered to be bad.

 

Lehigh96, posted: "And nobody is saying that ICG should have the social media presence of either NGC or PCGS, but to effectively have no social media outreach at all in 2020 is absolutely foolish."

You told me ICG has a Facebook and twitter - both with followers. I thought that is social media.

 

They might be...but they might not be. My only point is I am putting stock in the quality of the coins and not the holder they are in. For selling in the short to mid term...PCGS/NGC all the way. For coins that I am going to keep long term...it doesn't really matter because I don't know where these companies will be when my family sells my stuff.

 

They have social media accounts that they barely use, which is why I phrased it the way that I did.

 

Regardless of what the future holds, I am happy to have an independent grading option that works well for me at present, the coins won’t change and can always be submitted to some other entity to maximize value if and when that is necessary and appropriate. How interesting to have such a specialty in Jefferson nickels IMO. That's pretty cool. Why not Liberty Head nickels too though?

 

Nobody can predict the future, but to say it doesn't matter because you can't predict the future is simply untrue. Anyone looking to protect their numismatic investment would have their coins graded by either NGC or PCGS whether they are looking for short term or long term protection. It is simply the prudent choice.

 

Thank you, I think Jefferson Nickels are fantastic, and after a decade of collecting them, they still excite me.

Liberty Nickels are dull, lifeless, expensive, and impossible to move.

Buffalo Nickels are the king of the nickels, but I just don't have the funds to collect them in the grades that I prefer (gem grades).

 

So...raw coins are poor investments?

 

I sometimes wish I had the knowledge, talent and budget to make a living investing in coins, but I do find them a fair bit of fun and historically interesting. I don't see coins as investments in general, though sometimes I do buy things just because they're a really good value, which has served me pretty well.

 

I don’t really either personally. That’s kinda the point I’m trying to make. Those of us who don’t view coins as an investment first don’t need them to be slabbed my the top tier TPGs.

 

Lol, I consider ANACS, ICG, PCGS and NGC all to be the top tier TPGs, but I take your point - for resale of high end coins currently PCGS is probably your best bet.

 

From a sales value standpoint...PCGS and NGC are the top tier and ANACS and ICG are significantly below.