All of your questions are answered at these two sites: http://www.ngccoin.com and http://www.pcgs.com/
In probably a dozen or more polls done on this forum, the outcome is always about 50/50. Those two are the best, you really don't want to use any others.
Before you decide to send it away to be graded, post a pic here for free and ask if it's worth grading. Grading is expensive and many collectors find out they can't recover the cost of grading when they decide to sell.
Pcgs or ngc are the top 2 but anacs is the cheapest and they attribute more vams and errors than the other 2 and you don't have to be a member or pay an anual cost to use their service
For NGC, depends on the value of the coin. In most cases, modern coins cost $18 per coin, and most others cost $30. These costs do not include the cost of insurance/handling or return shipping. And those numbers can change based on expediting service or more valuable coins.
As stated NGC or PCGS are the top two TPGs. However, you must evaluate your coin and determine if it will grade higher than 67 for modern coins, or atleast 64 or 65 for the older 90% silver coins. If not, keep it in a 2x2 because your submission costs will outway any potential value it could have, and you'll take a hit on re-selling.
If it is just one coin, save it until you have 5+ to send in at once, to save on average cost for shipping and insurance. An order of mine for PCGS 5 economy (pre 1955) submissions, no special labeling or variety, + ins. & post. averaged $34 a coin. Another order at same time but 13 PCGS modern , with variety labeling ($ 24 extra) +ins. & post. averaged $42 a coin. It does vary according to insurance and service. Jim
True, but ya get what ya pay for too. Their grading is far too loose - they over-grade almost everything. But if all you care about is an attribution, go for it.
Herm, it really depends on personal preference. Are you submitting through a local dealer or opting for the membership route? As stated elsewhere in this thread, the value of submission is highly dependent upon the value of the coin. An example: You submit a roll of Morgans that you expect to come back as MS-65 or better. The submissions will cost you around $600 in total (give or take). If you insure at full MS-65 value, then the grading fees will go up, as well. If the coins all come back as MS-63 or lower, you will probably end up in the red on the transaction. The only exceptions would be on key date coins. Basically, I use the following as my rule of thumb: Unless the XF40 value is more than 3x the VG8 value, I don't bother submitting the coin. The main reason is the additional value driven by the holder will not be enough to off-set the overall risk / cost related to having the coin graded. Alternatively, unless the value in the holder in the lowest grade you expect less the value of the coin in "raw" state is at least double the grading fees, I wouldn't bother.
I wouldn't recommend anything until I had a good bit more information. First of all WHY do you want these coins graded ? What is your goal with having them graded ? Secondly, are the coins even worth the expense of grading ? Thirdly, if you are not reasonably certain of the grade the coins will receive then you shouldn't be submitting them for grading to begin with. Fourth, with some series NGC has tougher grading standards and with some series PCGS has tougher grading standards. So it depends on what the coin is to decide which company to send it to. Without answers to all of those questions, any recommendation is meaningless.
My main goal is for 2 colonial era coins I have. First to authenticate and second to determine a value on them... I have both already posted in here. One is a 1787 Excelsior and the other is a 1792 Washington Head.
You're never going to get an answer here on those two, not beyond what has already been said. And it really wouldn't matter whether you sent them to PCGS or NGC. The outcome will be the same in either case. So flip a coin and decide. I will say this, the odds are strong that you will be throwing money away for it is likely they are both replicas or counterfeits. But the only way you'll ever know for sure is to send them in. Who knows, you may get lucky. It's certainly happened before.
