Hello everyone I've been checking out ebays mercury dimes the past few weeks. Looking for the older ANACS slabs. The past couple of weeks Ive noticed mercurys graded by NTC and PCI. I added a few to my watch list just to get an idea of how well they sell compared to the top company's . It really supirzed me when I saw these slabs selling for just as much as the anacs slabs I've been buying latley. So it made me curious I started researching info about them and it does seem they are legit company's . After visiting NTC's website and learning there grading fee is half the price of everyone else. I thought maybe one of these company's might be good to submit lower value coins. I had alway heard that the coins slabbed by these company's wouldn't sell any higher than if raw . After watching several of these coins sell it seems that's far from the truth. Any thoughts on this ??
At one time, PCI was a moderately decent company, but they just couldn't compete with the top services. On the other hand, NTC is not only known for over-grading but grading problem coins as problem-free. Personally, I wouldn't buy coins in either slab without giving the coin a good once-over in hand. Chris
PCI old slabs are fine, and in some instances could easily crossover, it the big 2 would let you submit them. As for NTC, I tried them when they first started, each coin came back as I expected. No overgrading. But, then, I was not a biggie dealer. And I never used them again I think SEGS is far superior to them And ANACS a whole lot better than any of them
There are some cool coins in these type of holders but you need to be careful. They did not get it right as often as the top two services. I did really well picking varieties they missed and failed to show on the holder. The Kennedy AH comes to mind with NTC.
Well really what I was thinking was some of the unc mercury dimes and few war nickels I have for example. Coins that even in MS65 or better aren't that expensive . Wouldn't those 2 company's be idea if you wanted to submit some lower value coins? I really do understand that they are worlds apart from ngc and pcgs. That being said If there Ms66 FSB mercurys are bringing close to or almost as much as icg and anacs. Considering there lower fees I would think maybe they might be worth a try for those type coins.
Well Tom you say this and until watching several eBay auctions I did as well. Over the past few weeks I've purchased several old anacs slabbed mercury dimes and watched a good numbers of slabs from ntc and pci sell. I believe by now I have a decent idea of the market as far as mercurys go. Here's what gets me though is you have some people that say there ok , others that really don't prefer them , and others that just hate everything about the company's . Only problem I see with these opinions is the market says different at least on eBay and with mercury dimes.
Although I own some slabbed coins, and believe key dates are best verified in slabs, I overall dislike them. And now of course we have other company's verifying the slabs. IMHO, the old adage still stands very true.....buy the coin, NOT the holder! Learn to grade the best you can, and look at as many coins as possible. Buy the books first and improve your skills. Best of luck in the hunt! ~ Brent
Coins are worth less then raw in NTC slabs they will sell for less and always will be suspect. Be very selective if you buy anything in a non top tier slab. It is often better to buy the lower value items already in a PCGS , NGC or older ANACS slab you can find good value and easier to sell or trade if ones collecting focus changes.
These may be because of uninformed buyers thinking that they are reputable tpg or maybe a informed collector that spotted an occasionally correctly grade coin or a cherry pick. But my money would be on the uniformed buyers. Just look how many people buy and believe they got a bargoon with an SGS MS70 slab. I'm sorry but the intelligence of a lot of eBay buyers are of a grapefruit. And to use what they pay for things is a fool throwing their money away, when it comes to basement Slabbers
I own several NTC and PCI coins, but I collect historical slabs. There have been several iterations of PCI, the oldest one (small slabs with green labels with two codes below the bar code on the reverse) are frequently pretty fairly graded - by TODAY'S standards. PCI's grading standards went down hill from there. Of course, most of the good material has been picked over and a lot cracked out and submitted to more reputable TPGs. So you can't automatically assume a PCI green label MS62 will cross to a PCGS or NGC MS62... NTC, well, I look at the grade and think of it as "there probably is an MS65 of this one, somewhere, but Not This Coin". Still, even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut. The correct rule is buy the coin not the slab - however as a general rule, the only reason PCI or NTC coins sell a prices similar to the top tier TPGs is because the buyer is less sophisticated.
Treat these coins as raw when buying. Some raw coins are accurately graded by their sellers, some rather optimistically graded. You have to know how to tell the difference.
Thanks for posting everyone. I wasn't considering buying any of there coins . I was just comparing how ntc and pci slabs sold verses the top 4 company's. Thinking maybe they would be good to submit some of the lower value coins I have. After watching there slabs sell on eBay and thinking maybe they wasn't as bad as I had always heard. Even though there slabs are selling close to icg and anacs slabs when some of the basement slabs like sgs wouldn't get a single bid. It probley is a combination of the reason stated above.
BINGO! This is similar to the fact that many ebay sellers offer coins that I can tell are manipulated or abused in some way, yet they have active buyers and receive glowing feedback; they are selling to those folks who might not be as savvy in certain areas, yet the buyers do not realize what pool they are in.
Yes, you see this clearly at coin shows - if you are at a show, you are self-selected to be at least a little more savvy, even if you are just starting out. So almost everything slabbed is PCGS or NGC. A smattering of dealers will have a few carefully selected ANACS, ICG, older PCI slabs or even 1 or 2 SEGS slabs - and they will openly and honestly discuss the coin and grade... They bought the coin, not the holder and they know it. I've even seen the odd GEC or NTC. Heck, the really good dealers will openly and honestly discuss the PCGS and NCG coins too. I had one dealer who had cracked out an ICG AU50 because "I couldn't sell it with a straight face". I bought it - fair show price - as a nice, raw, XF and indeed it came back from NGC as XF40. But you never see the "not even sonically sealed" dreck like SGS except maybe in a 50% clearance bin. Well except for one <redacted/> in the NTX circuit who proudly displays NNC coins as if they are the treasure from King Tut's tomb (and wonders why most people don't even STOP at his booth).
That reminds me of the basement slab Ike I recently purchased. I honestly don't remember the grading company offhand, but the grade on the label was MS67, and the coin is MS64 details, scratched, on a good day. I bought it as a show piece to educate new collectors. Although, it's too bad about the scratch. It would have been a nice coin without that.
I laugh and take the comments about these third party companies with some salt..it seems a lot like political parties.. some people only want two companies, and the other half will say anthing to discredit or misinform.. who wants to give up their golden goose.. Buy the coin not the holder is what everyone talks about. I have made a ton of money buying NTC crack out game.. the wins have been so much larger than the downgrades. I paid $115 for a 1891 Morgan MS 65 NTC. it crossed. Its value is around $2900, up another grade 60k. NTC some can be acquired very cheaply.. ICG can generally be found for 1/2 pcgs.. do the research find the years that matter. and you can get some great deals.
