PCGS vs. NGC submissions?

Quick question...I know that there are some grading differences between NGC and PCGS regarding certain coins...but if PCGS graded coins typically sell for more than NGCs, why would one ever go with NGC? Is it because their holders aren't nearly as ugly as the PCGS? What thinks ye all? Thanks.

 

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um..........

volume discounts?

nah, stricter grading-- yes.

 

Stricter grading by whom?

 

NGC is much stricter.

 

Then if the NGC's sell for less than the PCGS's...that makes no economical sense at all????

 

I've noticed the cheaper prices for NGC coins of the same grade vs. PCGS, but it's been my experience that the two services are comparable for most coins. So I view it as an opportunity to pick up nice coins at cheaper prices. If the difference in price is enough, I consider crossing to PCGS for selling the coins.

I'm not sure why this situation exists, but I've noticed a bias towards PCGS by most dealers, and dealers make up a large portion of the marketplace. This may stem from the association of PCGS with dealers in its conception.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking more along the lines of sellers in this thread. If PCGS is more lenient and they bring higher prices, why would a seller submit to NGC? I personally think the NGC slabs without the fingers look much better than the PCGS slabs, but I don't own any of either and I'm not a seller/dealer. Just trying to figure this out and get as many knowlegeable inputs as possible. Thanks all for your help.

 

You probably don't see a whole lot of difference in price between an NGC and a PCGS MS-63, for example, but the perception is that a lot of PCGS 69's could end up as NGC 70's. Whether there is any truth to that, I don't know. A peek into population reports to see the ratio of 70's, 69's, 68's to the total of each would yield decent information on which is more strict in terms of top grades. However, those ratios could also be affected by who is submitting which coins to each of those companies.

In the last few years, I've probably sent only about a dozen coins a year in for grading. I use PCGS for mine, but consider NGC plenty reputable. My goal in terms of graded coins is to cherrypick gems at shops/shows and send those worthwile in for professional grading/certification. I like to use profits from coin buys/sells to pay for as much of the "worthless" stuff as possible, since most of what I like to collect are items which will probably never see a whole lot of value. : )

 

Hey Jeff

Your question is just a bit too vague to be answered. They are both good companies in my opinion, but each may be better for certain things.

I collect Walkers and Buffalos and don't feel qualified to comment on other series. As an example, NGC pops show almost three times as many MS67's for the 1947 Walker as does PCGS. An NGC MS67 on average will sell for less than half what a PCGS MS67 does. This is a fairly dramatic spread which will be considerably less for some other issues. If I had a coin I was absolutely convinced would slab as a 67, I would send it to PCGS.

There are other examples where the spread between the prices between the two companies is much smaller. And there are some issues where you could definitely argue that the spread is too wide to be justified.

There are also some fine dealers on here (see Mark Feld, the Penny Lady and the Dutchman as some examples) who know what they are doing and sell both NGC and PCGS coins. Why? Because there are some awfully nice coins in NGC holders, as well as in PCGS holders.

Sorry I can't be more helpful but I think we need to know exactly what kind of coins you are asking about.

 

Thanks breakdown, that's good input! It seems that I read that people universally think that PCGS always brings higher prices and I'm sure that's not true, but I don't know. Hopefully some more dealers here can give us their take. If anything, when I hear that NGC will bring a lower price, then I would think that they're the more lenient graders...just kinda confused for now! LOL I'd like to see PCGS have a halfway pretty slab and then maybe I would buy a coin graded by them....

 

Well if an NGC MS66 sells for more money than a PCGS MS65, and the submitter is a seller who believes that NGC grades a little looser, then that is why they would submit to NGC.

Way too much money seems to be spent on plastic with crackouts and resumbissions, but apparently there can be a lot of money to gain (or lose) playing that game.

 

I agree I've mentioned before I think they're equal as far as grading goes but PCGS does a way better job or marketing their services and interacting with collectors and dealers.

 

Let's suppose they grade equally, but PCGS brings higher prices when selling, why would any seller/dealer send their coins to NGC?

 

I am enjoying this thread. I will be faced with the decision soon...whether to join PSGS's collector's club....or NGC's collector's society because I'll have 4 or 5 coins that I want to have graded.

I sent a coin through a dealer...to NGC, which was returned AU58. There was some discussion as to whether or not the coin would go MS60, and whether or not having it conserved by NCS would make it garner a higher grade. If this piece was cracked out, conserved by NCS, and cracked out again and submitted to PCGS...and did get a 60 grade....the difference is about 2500 dollars. The dealer I submitted it through offered me 600 dollars under grey sheet bid for it.....so if he buys it, cracks it out, pays to have it "cleaned and pressed". and gets a 60 from PCGS....he will double, and maybe triple his investment, depending on how quickly he wants to move it. It might sound like a black helicopter conspiracy theory to everybody else....but doesn't sound at all far fetched to me.

Keep talking... I could use the advice too.

Nightowl

 

I don't understand why anyone would send in a coin to be graded unless they planned to sell it in the slab. If one wants to verify a coin's grade and being genuine, I can see having it graded, but then I would break it out and put it in my coin album...UNLESS I planned to sell it. I would think that buyers and sellers see slabbing differently, but I don't know. I hope we get some more input to this thread. Let's hear from you folks.

 

I will give you a couple other reasons;

1) It is guaranteed in the slab and, yes, I have collected on their guarantee.

2) The slab protects the coin probably better than most people can do in another holder.

3) I may not want to sell my coins, but my heirs might.

 

Those are good points rlm, but what about the NGC vs. PCGS? That's kinda what I'm goin' for here. Is it better to slab with PCGS since they SEEM to sell for higher prices?

 

And they do not grade the same. If you read lehigh's comments about NGC and PCGS grading of Jeffersons, PCGS grades nearly a full grade lower than NGC, BUT NGC full steps mean just that while PCGS means most of 5 steps are there. I believe that you will find that, in MOST cases, PCGS will grade more conservatively than NGC. However, that is not true 100% of the time nor is it true that every PCGS slab sells for more than every NGC slab and not even every series. They weight the different criteria differently.

 

Good points again! Thank you.

 

NGC also has stricter requirements for Franklin FBL's.