I've been tormenting myself as to which TPG to use, and it occurred to me, "Why not both?" But on the surface, that sounds a bit silly, although I'm sure some of you do use both. So for those of you who do/did, my question is why, and what are the advantages/disadvantages of having both?
No disadvantages in my opinion. There is a perception that coins in PCGS holders sell better, for higher prices. In fact some of the “ultra collectors” who bid on wildly expensive coins will only be interested in PCGS coins. I remember that when I sold one of my really expensive toners, I had to cross it to PCGS, before a certain buyer who wanted that specific coin would buy it. To me, that is beyond ludicrous, as NGC has the star designation for toning, and PCGS does not. In my personal purchases, I actually slightly prefer NGC coins, and see them as more accurate, as of recent. However, my answer is “it depends upon perception.”
Depends what you collect. For ancients NGC is the only option. For US you’ll want PCGS If you do a lot with a wide variety world coins you’ll want to use both as different countries prefer one over the over. It’s not really worth it though for a coin or two unless they’re really expensive. NGC has been known to give a significantly higher percentage of 70s on ultramoderns like they did with the V75 eagles, they’ll sell for less but still more than a 69. I don’t really think it’s worth it to do both unless you’re submitting a lot regularly. I would however say it’s worth using PCGS and then using ANACS specials on low value coins that would be cost prohibitive
If you are interested in competing in a registry, that can influence your choice of TPG. NGC allows both NGC and PCGS coins in their registry. PCGS allows only PCGS coins. In addition, if you are just starting with slabbed coins and are interested in the registry, take a look in both registries at the series in which you are interested. You may find the registry for a particular series is much more competitive for one TPG versus the other. If having your set achieve a high rank is important to you, then you might want to start collecting slabbed coins for the least competitive TPG registry for the particular series. The registries of the two TPGs may require a different number of coins for completion of a particular series. For example, a CC Morgan collection can be completed in the PCGS registry with 13 coins … one for each date. In the NGC registry, 15 coins are required because both major varieties for 1879 and 1880 must be present. Cal
I have only submitted to PCGS. I am looking in to submitting to NGC as well. The prices seem better on the NGC side but the resale seems better with PCGS.
I haven't bought a raw coin in quite a while so no preference. But the slabbed coins I buy can be either NGC or PCGS. Great Collections appears to use only PCGS. It guess that anything in other slabs were already graded when they get to GC. ANACS seems to be the choice for lower value modern coins. I used to use NGC exclusively because ANA members don't have to pay the fee to "join" NGC. But somewhere along the line I got dissatisfied with them. Can't remember why.
So as i don't do moderns, or world, I think I'll just go with PCGS. I have registries at both, and since NGC accepts both, and PCGS only allows their own, I think PCGS would be the way for me to go. Now which is a better 'deal' - Gold or Platinum? Are the vouchers only for the Economy ($22 fee/$300 coin value) or can they be used for the Regular ($38 fee/$2500 coin value)? Most of mine will be above the $300 value mark.
If you're look at decent to high value coins, they lean towards PCGS as a reflection of the market as people want to maximize the value. That said GC gives you three options on their current as of right now raw coin submission form, PCGS NGC and ANACS (4 if you count CAC). Platinum is the best deal. The vouchers can be used up to the regular gold shield level which are worth more than the cost if joining on their own when used like that. The gold shirt if you don't want it you can sell for $15-20 as well as it is a Nike Dry Fit as of last year anyways
Like @baseball21 mentioned, GC will let you send to PCGS, NGC, or Anacs. Outside of market values, the fact that they are close in location to PCGS might influence people to have their raw coins sent there (less time spent shipping and they can get to auction quicker).
I've used three: NGC, PCGS, and Anacs. Anacs is great when you use their $10-$12 specials on coins that otherwise wouldn't make sense to spend $20-$30 having slabbed (as well as certain varieties, tokens, fantasy coins that the others won't recognize). NGC I've mainly used for my modern sets (part of the reason was for consistency since I already had some in NGC holders). PCGS I used for the first time in 2020 to test out how my toners would do (quite a few people want PCGS, including a TrueView, when buying-although it does not matter to me). One reason to use both is to get a second opinion. If you don't think the grade was right and there is a chance for a higher grade or a straight grade as opposed to a details grade, then you might want to send the coin to whichever service has not seen it yet.
I’m an authorized dealer at both NGC and PCGS. Here’s what I mainly use them for. NGC: classic copper, Morgan’s, gold and ancients PCGS: type coins, near top-pops, and specialty coins/rarities
As a long term collector who didn't ever submit my own raw coins to a TPG until late last year, I find it amazing that people pay $40 or more to submit one coin to NGC and PCGS, unless the goal is resale and the coin is clearly superior. I have a fair number of ANACS, ICG, PCGS and NGC slabs, but I only submit to ICG - as a collector, I appreciate that they are reasonably priced, easy to submit to and IMO pretty brutally honest on the grading (I wouldn't even know how to begin to submit to PCGS, usually the suggestion is to "piggyback on one of your coin dealer friends" - I mean I wish I knew someone who was a coin dealer, but anyway...) I just submitted 10 Standing Liberty Quarters to ICG on the lowest economy tier with the Cointalk discount and conservation on 4, my total cost was $145 plus what I paid to ship it to them, turnaround was less than 3 weeks. Colour me a happy customer, though I wish some had graded better, lol. I was soooo hoping for a VG on my 1921. Argh!!!
I've done ANACS twice, and I've also done ICG, but I have some coins that need to be in top tier plastic. Nothing wrong with either of those as a collector, but there are some coins that justify the more expensive plastic if I ever decide to sell some (or my heirs).
Some people spend the high amounts on grading without first doing the research. Occasionally they don't know better and it teaches them a lesson. Other times people on forums like here warn them and they just don't listen. Other people just want consistency or to use a submission as a lesson. In general, if using PCGS or NGC (and even Anacs & ICG) it makes sense to have at least a handful of coins (5-10) to bring down the average cost and to be picky and not send coins where it's cheaper to just buy them slabbed already. And it isn't particularly difficult to submit. Just follow the instructions on the website (the forms are relatively easy to fill out as long as you don't have anything super unusual to submit).
