To ship… one package. Not even that large a package, either! 14.3 ounces. Registered Mail, GA to FL. Just to send ten coins off to NGC. Because of different tiers and services, they had to go in on five different invoices. And because of the insurance on their $13,001 total value, they cost a pretty penny to ship! Outbound shipping: $69.99 Submission fees & return shipping: $796.20 Total: $866.19 That works out to $86.62 per coin. Yowch. But it’ll be worth it to me in the long run, I guess. There’s a bunch of big gold pieces and some fairly scarce-ish Ancients in there (one of the Ancients is also gold, and is getting NCS conservation). And they’re all getting Photovision imaging as well.
Is that because of the insurance or because it's registered mail? Seems like you could fit 10 coins into one of those $10 boxes, but that's priority mail.
Rob, When you order top-tier service you the pay top-tier price. You did the right thing by going Registered, because, otherwise they could disappear with no recourse. Sure, you could launch an investigation but if the shipper determines no fault on their side you are powerless to recover…imo…Spark
I know you guys are passionate about sending in coins for grading, but the 'snark' in me says take that money and go out and buy an already graded coin, of your, choice. Just me. Hope all works out to your expectations, Rob.
Maybe not as fun? Some people, like me like sending out for something and the anticipation of receiving something being delivered back to the house is exhilarating!!
Oh, believe me, the sticker shock here reinforced that with me. You’re not wrong. Best to buy ‘em already slabbed, if you can! But with Ancients, that’s not so easy. The stuff you find that’s already in slabs is not only overpriced but also often of only marginal quality. With Ancients, I find it best to hand-pick ‘em (which, from European sources, usually means raw), and then send ‘em in. But it’s gotten ridiculously expensive. For starters, the basic tier price is $55 per coin, and then I’m paying imaging fees, return shipping, and a $10 handling fee per invoice. Plus the outgoing shipping. It’s painful, but often worth it in the long run. To me, anyway- though many Ancients collectors are slab skeptics and would heartily disagree.
Yeah. I wouldn’t say I’m happy about the costs (this thread was to complain about that). But in the end, the expense and hassle and long wait will hopefully prove worthwhile.
I've had a "gem state" (i.e. 5-6 figure Greysheet value) 1909-D $20, verified authentic by a preeminent grader, now in an "airtite", having been stored for more than a half-century. I would love to have the coin graded with other similar state U.S. Gold, but for a means of transfer? In the past I've had a registered valuable Gold coin, "got lost at sea?". It eventually resulted in the "early-retirement" of a frustrated Post-Master who never could determine the route of the coin, and U.S.P.S. considered it an "open-case", still unresolved!
An 84 Y.O. "diminished-capacity" individual doesn't share your current enthusiasm for leaving a cherished rural estate.
I see where your coming from. I'm try to justify a trip out of town to pick up some 50 year old jeep parts. I could use one of the parts, maybe a second one at some point. I wouldn't want to pay for shipping them. I just ordered a remanufactured windshield frame part that came in yesterday...still would like the windshield glass. The original windshield frame is better quality, so I'm still considering going on a 4 hour drive each way. We would make a weekend trip out of it, using a free room at a nearby casino as a jumping off point. The jeep hood won't fit in the car, to get all 3 pieces would require my truck and burn twice the fuel.
When they doubled the insurance costs recently it really increased the cost of mailing. I contacted some of their competitors but they charged similar rates.
Thankyou for that.... Oh, you meant Rich. Never mind, LOL. Though my diminished capacity remains undiminished. At least I think so.
Well, I've gotten the first result back, and must say I'm pleased. This coin (a 1965 Peruvian 100-soles of the Seated Liberty type) had to go off under NGC's Express tier (@$80++), because it's worth over $3K. Just from the bullion value. (You can't submit stuff over $3K under the Standard tier.) So it cost me $126 total just to slab this one coin! Yowch! There's 1.3544 oz of gold here, so just the melt value is $3,392.70 as of this typing. I was hoping for MS63. It came back MS65+, and is now the top pop example! And NGC attributed an overdate variety on it (9 over inverted 5). Cool!
