Best place to certify a coin. I have been a coin collector for 50+ years, US and mostly uncertified. I do have a couple of coins I would like to send in to be graded. Where should they be sent and how much would it cost? Coins such as a 1861-O half in AU or maybe low MS grade. Mailed insured of course, any other advise?
The market continues to show a clear preference (via increased prices at sale) for PCGS slabs. I don't agree that the preference is necessarily justified, but there it is.
Cost will vary among grading services and will also depend on the coins you're having graded. The 61-O half in AU is just over PCGS's $300 declared value limit, but you could probably get away with it. Best to have someone look at the coins you're thinking of sending in to make sure they don't see problems you might be missing. If you can post pictures here, you'll get some guidance. Also, sending one or two coins at a time will end up costing you a lot in round-trip postage, so keep that in mind.
There is no simple "best" answer as there are many factors that must be taken into consideration. First and foremost I would ask why you wish to have the coins certified - is it for personal purposes or resale or...? If personal your options may be greater than if for resale, such gentleman above who expressed a preference for ANACS. While there's certainly nothing wrong with coins residing in their holders, if achieving top dollar for your coins is important, they are generally a poor choice short of variety considerations. Even with the so-called "top two", NGC and PCGS, all things are not created equal, but as most always in this hobby/business, all can depend on the individual coin. In some cases there is little difference between coins in NGC and PCGS plastic, while in others the difference can be night and day. Submission costs also must be considered, so all in all, perhaps it would be best if you posted a list, preferably with well detailed photos, of the coins under consideration so that your options can be better explained.
All of the well-known grading companies have advantages, e.g. PCGS is very popular, ANACS attributes many Morgan VAM varieties, NGC takes excellent pictures, etc. Personally I can recommend NGC, you'll find more details about how to submit coins to them here: http://www.ngccoin.com/submit-coins/how-to-submit.aspx
Having a coin or coins "certified" and "graded" is often the result of a collector wanting validation of some type on his/her collection. Generally speaking, the numeric grade gets cross referenced with some assigned "price guide" value thereby giving the collector a sense of gratification with his/her purchase. However, price guides and reality often are two completely different stories. Given that, my suggestion would be to go with PCGS since "certain" PCGS coins get much higher after market prices than any of the other grading services. This fact means nothing in the real world since fixed prices and auction prices are relative to who wants the coin (at that grade) and who actually see's the auction listing. For what's considered classic coinage, prices show little variance but with what's considered Modern coinage, prices vary widely with the bulk of high prices going toward PCGS Certified coins. @mgmgmg75 you should seriously consider WHY you want to have a few of your coins certified. If their real world price is not one of the reasons, then go for the cheapest of the TPG's which would be ANACS. IF you are looking for a value boost, then go with PCGS and expect the worst. Professional Coin Grading is nothing more than a "Marketing Tool" created by and primarily support by Coin Dealers. Dabbling in getting coins professionally graded can lead to a lot of "other" things such as selling and/or building a registry set and then getting competitive witht hat set. None of those two are going to be cheap exercises so, examine exactly WHY you want to get in on the frey and then go from there?
Pcgs or ngc. I personally like dealing with ngc better but like pcgs holders 6 of 1 half dozen of the other. I send to both
