I’ve been bidding on some currency auctions on Great Collections and have picked up a few world notes graded by Legacy. It seems that Legacy is used quite a lot by GC. What is the current consensus on the value of that certification relative to PMG and PCGS? Is the grading generally accurate and are they well accepted by the market? Or is it a newer equivalent of the old CGA certs?
For lack of a better word, there is no trust, and where theres no trust theres no value, ask yourself this question, how many legacy notes do you actually see on e-bay or any other auction site? the answer is not many and why is that? because the owner of legacy grading is the same guy that ran PCGS ( Collectors Universe ) in to the ground !! basically overnight causing people like me to lose Thousands of dollars, so i would think twice about buying anything with legacy grading tab. If i were you i would avoid CGA certs as well, there was a big scandal several years ago in where they were caught over grading notes for an individual in Florida and thats bad news when it comes right down to it. As far as value i would go with the industry standard PMG or PCGS (Gold Shield) both offer integrity and value.
Given the less than stellar reputation of this grading company, I’m surprised that GC has so many of their notes in the their auctions. For world currency it seems to be the majority. I wonder if they have negotiated lower grading fees for consignors.
I'm sorry to hear about your costly experience @mpcusa ! I have felt very similar to @mpcusa re: PCGS & Legacy but my attitude has changed slightly over the last 2 years. I have a couple disappointing older PCGS holders that are open (& the notes really need to be re-submitted) which I'm a bit reluctant to do (knowing the grade will go down due to some toning since the note hasn't been well preserved). I must admit I prefer the newer "Gold Shield" PCGS holder to anything else from that entity. But I also have one real brutal PMG note which was quite over graded (I got caught buying the holder instead of assessing the note carefully myself). And I have seen several PMG notes (posted on forums) that were borderline on bazaar (missed clear evidence of processing, etc). Since my big mistake with PMG I have been a lot more careful to scrutinize whatever note is being offered & its been tough to just do that (& ignore the holder). I have seen many over graded notes by Legacy & this is b/c many World & Bank of Canada notes have been submitted to this TPG. They're probably less expensive & have better turn-over times. I have seen a lot offered on a CDN auction site that I would not touch (looked a grade lower or not PPQ to me). But I have seen over graded (& a few under graded notes) too by our BCS, PCGS & PMG. This is at least from my perspective & I have looked at thousands of notes! Anyway, I finally found a 1935 $10 which was graded VF30 PPQ by Legacy that I felt was dead on (it looks original & like what one would expect for a VF 30 note) & pulled the trigger. I'm happy with this note! My advice to most collectors would be to "buy the note/ not the holder!" That means just do your best to acquaint yourself with processing tells (washed? pressed?) & practice grading yourself. Once you do it enough, you'll likely get the feel for it & gain confidence. Then start to consider what you learned & grade the note before you see the holder (you can do this by looking at the cropped image of many auction sites), then check the TPG grade. It takes time but eventually you'll get used to it & wonder why you didn't do this before. Then start feeling free to look at all the TPG notes you want (& not get stuck on one grader). If you're super concerned about resell, then perhaps you should stick to PMG but still be careful b/c it (like all TPG's) is only as good as its graders (who are all subjective & will have their good & bad days!)
I agree, but allot of people do not know how to grade notes properly or what to look for, before you buy become educated on what your buying first thing to look for is a well centered note and uncirculated if possible but even if its not that one little pointer makes a world og difference
