ICG v ANACS - Who's worse?

Clever gimmick. What does that say about society? (rhetorical) So, they have a grading system for the grades and provide a window shopping display and showing off experience, via their websites, for those who pay the most to be at the top with their collection? Kudos!

 

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I'm with you on this from the aspect of their being bullion churned out by the mny millions, so why grade them at all? But I can tell you that those "MS-69" ones I was referring to were, to the naked eye, quite evidently flawed in multiple respects. Not an "eyelash from perfection" as one TV coin show host is fond of saying. So even the minimal "grading skills, abilities, and expertise" weren't being employed so far as I could see.

 

Exactly, and it's hugely popular.

 

I automatically clicked ICG for #3, without giving it much thought. After seeing the votes so much in favour of ANACS, I decided to search for some coins in their slabs. No word of a lie, the first two slabs that caught my attention just happened to have the same colour ANACS label and the same grade AU58. What am I missing here? Is this accurate? Are they both AU58 in your view?

 

I think that saying the one on the right would be a 1922 would be a good guess. You cannot grade without seeing the whole coin both sides.

 

Only one side of photo was provided. I picked them up in the interest of figuring it out. These will also be my first ANACS slabs, ever. I'll try to provide better photos if and when they arrive. First thing I noticed is that the ear is worn flat on the right one, along with cheek wear, hair wear, etc. The left is from 1988, the right is from 1960. I'll be back with more info after delivery. Here is the best I can do for now...

 

Picture is crap. but I am pretty sure that 1960 is not "worn flat". I believe that is a strike issue (struck through grease?).

 

Not noted on slab as struck through grease. We'll just have to wait until I can get better photos.

 

That's fine, I can always add my photos under the error thread.

 

Sorry, can't provide better photos of the worse looking cent because, to my surprise, it was substituted with a slightly nicer looking example. So, instead, I started this "Guess The Grade" thread... http://www.cointalk.com/threads/1960-d-d-error-and-guess-the-grade-by-segs.243649/

 

Both are tons better than raw; I have seen raw coins improperly graded by those who dislike the grading services everytime I look through their coins and sometimes those raw coin dealers grades are just whopping lies!

ICG has some great things going for it; Randy Campbell and Skip Fazzari work for ICG; Mike Fahey, a great numismatist at Anacs.

 

yep, my lcs tries to pawn off whizzed junk as AU.

 

The grading services including these two stand between the collector and dealers. There are way too many devious, dishonest, or incompetent hawkers of coins as "rare", "gem", and so forth. Ebay still allows the sale of raw coins in its auctions though only local antique style auction companies have raw coins too.

There are dealers who sell raw coins at reasonable prices and properly graded, but they are in the minority by a long shot.

 

Some links for other comparison discussions:

http://www.bestcoin.com/Rating-Coin-Grading-Services.htm

http://www.coinweek.com/commentary/opinion/the-coin-analyst-the-ms70-debate-revisited/

http://news.coinupdate.com/new-column-to-focus-on-third-party-coin-grading-0045/

I remember reading the CW article in the last year and will continue to look for a link.

Ken

 

Here's a question to ponder that somewhat in the vein of this discussion: What would ICG, ANACS, or the "new" PCI (as examples) need to do to get their credibility on par with NGC/PCGS?

 

$$ guarantees, like NGC and PCGS. Even they keep you waiting two months or more on appearance reviews, etc.. There will always be subjectivity in the business. If some "investors" hold large numbers of certified NGC and PCGS coins, you can be sure very few hold the lesser certifieds. A pure collector just may want coins certified at the $15 charge in a couple of weeks instead of having raw coins.

 

So what happens when Randy Campbell is pigeon-holed at coin shows with overgraded ICG coins? Hey Randy, ICG called this coin an MS63, but it is unsaleable anywhere near current GS pricing for that better date $20; what say you? And he would have to give a version that covers himself and his $$$ backers.