between the two which would be the most trustworthy in terms of grading coins overall etc? My nephew whats to by a few coins and insists on graded ones but he asked me which is the best between the two. Since I dont really follow the whole Slab buisness I don’t know how to answer this. I figure a few experienced folks here probably have a good handle on which Grading firm would be the most conservative when it comes to grading. Hopefully I can get him off the Slab requirements in the future but it seems young collectors want slabs because its like collecting baseball cards for them. Sad but true.
For the most part, the two are equivalent. I wouldn't worry about which one - buy the most attractive coin.
Both NGC and PCGS are excellent grading services and are the dominant ones for coins sold by auction houses and most dealers. If your nephew is interested in participating in the registries (free online services where collectors can anonymously display their collections), then he should stick with one grading service for any particular series (e.g. Lincoln cents, buffalo nickels, etc.). The grading services allow only coins that they have certified to be entered in their own registries. Within a grade, coin appearances can vary a lot. Your nephew should learn to evaluate coins beyond what the slab states. Cal
Probably not a bad idea to buy slabbed coins, depending on his age. My son likes to show his off, they never make it back to the place they belong. A slab can always be replaced when they are more responsible with there collection.
Great ideas did not think about the registry stuff. He was not aware of that. I suspect he will be real interested.
I think they are extremely close to each other for US Coins in general, but varieties results can vary significantly, IMO.
What age is your nephew? The first thing he should learn about coins (even before grading) is to keep his hands off the faces of the coins. Slabbed coins are OK, but you do pay a significant premium, and can achieve the same degree of protection of the coin by buying commercially available slabs and doing them himself.
A new collector should not be sending coins into any of the grading services until they've gotten a bit of experience on how to grade coins..........
Before you get him off of slabs, be sure he has extensive knowledge about how to detect cleaned and altered coins, as well as catch the plethora of counterfeits out there. Yes, I know that is a tall order. But a most necessary one.
