Team, I've got a PCI 1927 Peace Dollar on the way. When it arrives I'll post it and see if any agree on the grade. Now you all know the 1927 is an under-rated key coin with a mintage of 848,000 and PCI is a under-rated TPG but in this coins case the grade appears accurate. Think I'll not only keep it slabbed, but it will become one of my industry standard slabbed coins. Take Care Bone
If it is, it will be first one I've seen, and only the second one I've heard about. I have an AU50 Japanese dragon yen in a PCI MS62 slab. (Since I paid XF money for it, I guess I'm still OK)
There are a good many coins in PCI slabs that are graded right or undergraded. I have my 1909-S VDB in a PCI slab and its graded right....I got my 1926-S Buff in a F-15 PCI slab and it came back from NGC graded VF20. So if you look you will find lots of nice coins in PCI slabs. Speedy
I have a general rule in that I will not bid on or purchase a coin off of eBay or other Internet Auction site that has been slabbed by PCI within the last 5 years! There are exceptions such as, when the pictures are good enough so that you can tell with some certainty that the coin was not overgraded or when the price is way below the value of the coin in the grade given. I usually want to have the coin in hand to inspect it and determine if it has been overgraded or not. in fact, I picked up a nice 1882-CC Morgan today that is in an older generation slab and graded MS-64 by PCI! I could not pass it up since it might actually sqeek out an MS-65 from NGC or PCGS, it is an unattributed VAM and the price was only $200. My advice is, to shy away from Coin Dealers at Coin Shows that have large amounts of one or more series of coins in new PCI slabs (i.e. many common Date Morgan or Peace Dollars, many State Quarters, many BU Red Wheat Cents, etc.) unless the prices on their' coins are too low to pass up. I have actually seen Coin Dealers purchase $1,000 and $5,000 bags of Uncirculated common Date Morgan or Peace Dollars then submit all of them at once to PCI at a Coin Show. Many Dealers submit large amounts of coins at once to PCI, first to get the coin in a slab which boosts the value and return on the coins and second in hopes of getting a higher grade than they would from other TPG's which again boosts the value and return on the coins. If you notice a Coin Dealer with large amounts of PCI graded coins then they probably have many more boxes of them behind or under their' table! Frank
I see a lot of PCI graded coins around. I've never purchased one. This isn't so much because of the potential overgrading. It's more because I fear buying a cleaned coin that they may have slabbed, which I'm not particularly good at detecting.
I have a PCI 1997-P SMS Nickel MS69 6FS that is quite beautiful and I paid $200.00 for. I'm hoping it holds it's value against the PCGS and NGC models going 1.5 or more this price.
Would PCI be considered the "5th best" TPG after the big 4? I also see some controversial opinions about SEGS with some saying it is okay and some saying avoid them.
I've heard that SEGS is best for errors and variety <sp?>.....but not for grading. Yes I did---I have another one I bought raw that I hope to send in soon---I'm 99% sure that it will also come back VF. Speedy
Has PCI changed their slabs in the last 5 years? I have a dozen or so PCI slabbed coins, they all look either close or undergraded. They were all slabbed 20+ years ago though. A few of them might find their way to NGC soon.
Thanks Speedy. Just went there, Interesting read. According to that article, all of mine are the old slabs just as I thought they would be.
Speedy, You are right! Larry Briggs with SEGS ranks with the best when it comes to identifying errors and is one of the foremost Authorities on rare Varieties of the early Half Cents, Large Cents, Quarters, Halves and Silver Dollars! If you have anything in these series from 1793 throught the 1800's that you are wondering about, then he is one of the persons to ask. He can be found at the SEGS booth (tables) at most Coin Shows. Also, he buys, sells and trades many of the early U.S. coins, so of you ever want to see some of the rariest and oldest U.S. coins, you might want to stop by the SEGS booth and look at some of the coins he has. SEGS is really quite a bit better with grading than some folks give them credit for! They are a fairly small Grading Service Company that has had difficulty establishing a name in the game but believe that if they can survive, they will someday give PCGS and NGC a run for their money! Frank
