why should anyone waste their money slabbing coins unless they are looking to sell is what I don't understand in the first place?
There are 1001 reasons to get coins certified, and the expense, etc. are the reasons not to. I have heard people say lots of critical things about the grading services, some of them are true, many of the things they have said are biased for whatever reason. If you have the coin in the holder you have a powerful commercial tool when selling, plus the pride of ownership, some do registry sets, etc..
Collectors can certainly benefit from having a powerful commercial tool when they sell, regardless of if it is routinely phrased in that manner.
To check their own grading skill? Or, for those too confident to need that, to check the grading service's accuracy, so you'll know better what to expect from other coins they've slabbed? Or just to show off (via a registry set). When you come right down to it, though, I'll bet there are relatively few collectors who don't believe "looking to sell" is somewhere in their future, or the future of their heirs...
Standard can take significantly longer. It really depnds upon how busy they are. Did you by chance have any FS Varieties in the shipment. That "can" add 3 to 4 days over and above the express service. I have used express service in the past but only for coins that needed a quick turn-around and which justified the extra costs.
I use express and walkthrough all the time and I have varying times - why I still use it I have no idea. As you see most of them are pretty decent times but nowhere close to the "estimated" times. Note the dates on the longer orders are usually around the holidays. Order #Submission #Date ReceivedDate ShippedStatusItemsService 20720566 125198 7/9/2013 7/18/2013 Shipped 1 Express 20707229 124249 5/22/2013 5/30/2013 Shipped 1 WalkThru Standard 20703308 124008 5/8/2013 5/13/2013 Shipped 1 WalkThru Standard 20697860 123539 4/19/2013 4/24/2013 Shipped 1 WalkThru Standard 20691306 123211 3/26/2013 3/28/2013 Shipped 4 WalkThru Standard 20687700 123001 3/15/2013 3/20/2013 Shipped 1 WalkThru Standard 20685100 122841 3/6/2013 3/8/2013 Shipped 4 WalkThru Standard 20679284 122448 2/14/2013 2/19/2013 Shipped 2 WalkThru Standard 20671546 122074 1/23/2013 1/30/2013 Shipped 8 Express 20655679 121022 11/26/2012 12/10/2012 Shipped 5 Express 20655678 121021 11/26/2012 12/3/2012 Shipped 4 Express 20643513 120270 10/10/2012 10/18/2012 Shipped 9 Express 20623144 118850 7/26/2012 8/1/2012 Shipped 2 Express 20619921 118647 7/12/2012 7/20/2012 Shipped 4 Express 20618705 118580 7/9/2012 7/19/2012 Shipped 3 Express 20607994 118033 5/30/2012 6/6/2012 Shipped 1 Express 20599431 117586 5/1/2012 5/4/2012 Shipped 3 Express 20599423 117587 5/1/2012 5/4/2012 Shipped 1 WalkThru Standard 20568896 115715 1/12/2012 1/23/2012 Shipped 2 Express
I just sent a coin into PCGS using the Express service. It was only one coin. From the time they received it, til the time they mailed it back out it was 5 business days exactly. They just sent it out yesterday. Also keep in mind that this is coin show season and they are swamped at their office. This is not like Walmart where they can page an extra check out clerk to the front counter. These are highly trained professionals and I am sure they are limited to whoever is available each day.
Slabbing is not for everyone but the TPG's do provide a valuable service in that a team (hopefully 3) of professionals evaluates the coin to determine authenticity and a relative (opinionated) grade of what the coins approximate value "might" be. The coins are ten housed in a "protective slab" which almost guarantees that the coin will be "as is" for a very long time and NOT subject to hits, dings, scratches or "after grading" fingerprints. Some purists simply do not understand why folks don't want to "hold" their coins in their hands. Well, since I and many pothers like to concentrate on gem uncirculated examples, I would never consider "holding" or "touching" the coin(s) just to satisfy my urge to. I've held plenty of BU 90% Silver coins as a kid so any desires to hear the ring of silver were satisfied a very long time ago. Besides, such things only lead to the possibility of damaging an otherwise valuable coin.
I remember when I was a kid and was trying to trade a seated quarter to my local coin dealer and he tossed it onto his glass case. It was still in the flip, but the noise was loud and I was horrified that he would do such a thing to my VG quarter. Ever since then I'm paranoid to even hold a coin in my hand without some layer of protection (the slab being the ultimate).
I just got a few back from regular service. Their website said 17 business days between acceptance and grades given, but it took only 10 days. There was, however, a 2 day delay in the shipping department. But all-in-all now may be a good time to submit.
