Just curious, what's every one's idea about the best grading companies out there. I've seen a ton, which ones are consistent?
I don't think I've previously welcomed you to the forum, so consider it done now. The consensus is that PCGS, NGC, ANACS and ICG are the "big four", with ICCS also getting high marks for world coins, especially Canadian. Your inquiry has been the subject of numerous threads, including this one. For more click on "SEARCH" at the top of the page, and enter "grading companies" as the topic.
I moved your thread here where more people will see it... I put this in this list... NGC PCGS ANACS--ANACS is in the same place as PCGS for me... ICG PCI....is lowest on my list...they tend to overgrade...but if you need to find out if your coin is fake or not and want it back faster than they other grading Co. then PCI would be my pick. Speedy
What Speedy is saying here (in a rather subtle way) is that after those first 4 or 5 the others are all not worthy of mentioning. He is right.
the obvious is PCGS.... but I think ANACS is best, if you are at a coin show with ANACS reps talk to them- they really know coins, also they have the net grading. I have a problem with ICG (they tried to talk me into paying a nonrefundable fee to grade an obviously cleaned coin- it would have been sent back in a bodybag and I would have been out the fee money) they are simply dishonest.
Good point about PCI. I've never purchased one of their slabs but might consider it now, taking into account the potential for overgrading and making sure I don't overpay for what I get. Do they slab cleaned coins? That would be a negative because I have trouble detecting lightly cleaned coins.
PCI used to slab cleaned coins--I don't know about now...when they did they always put a RED Lable in the slab...that way everyone could tell it was cleaned.. Read this site... http://www.k6az.com/pci/pci.htm I'm hard on cleaning and pass up coins every week at the coin shop up town...because I call them cleaned...my dealer calls them un-cleaned...but then he's not a collector...he's a dealer and dealers aways think their coins are uncleaned! Speedy
I guess asking a dealer if a coin has been cleaned will get an answer about as good as asking a barber if you need a haircut.
If they are a reputable dealer they will say that a coin is cleaned if they belive it is. Most dealers started out as collectors and usually have impressive collections.
I don't want anyone to think my dealer is crooked...he's really nice and helpful...and sometimes he agrees with me on the cleaning...but what I was pointing out is that I pass up coins because I call them cleaned that others would think are in great shape and are not cleaned... Speedy
Morgan Dollar There isn't a grading service called the ANA...the ANA doesn't even own one...there is one called ANACS---I know that is what you meant but when posting it some people might go and search for the ANA grading Co. and then not find it... Speedy
Let's be clear on this - ALL the grading companies will slab cleaned coins. And yes that includes NGC, PCGS, ANACS and ICG. But 3 of those 4 companies will NOT slab harshly cleaned coins. There is a difference. ANACS will slab anything except counterfeits and net grade it.
Personally, I don't think any coin should be rejected by a grading service due to cleaning, so to me, ANACS is offering the better service. Full disclosure is more important than closing out the cleaned coin segment of the market [which must be huge]. If all of the major grading services would slab cleaned coins and disclose it, maybe a better market would develop for them. This would not necessarily be a bad thing because there would be less reason for people to try to pass off cleaned coins as uncleaned. More information is alway superior to less information, and people could collect what they wanted without as much trickery.
