Are PCGS's New Eye Appeal Guidelines a Shot at NGC's Star Designation?

PCGS as part of its The Big One announcement, formalized some guidelines for eye appeal as it relates to grading: http://www.pcgs.com/eyeappeal.html

My initial reaction was it seems helpful to have visual examples to better understand PCGS grading. What I found most interesting is the acknowledgment that PCGS will bump a coin's technical grade up to "a full point" if it has "amazing" eye appeal. This strikes me as a poke (intentional or not) at NGC's star designation which denotes a coin "superior in eye appeal to more typical coins of the same grade".

As I have said before on here, one reason I have never liked the star designation is that you shouldn't segregate eye appeal from the grade. Not only does PCGS apparently agree with that, they have now formally stated it.

Am I missing something here?

 

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"Are PCGS's New Eye Appeal Guidelines a Shot at NGC's Star Designation?"

No, more like a reaction to CAC, in my opinion.

 

p.s. the * is different from the + as far as NGC is concerned (and from what I have gathered). The + is for "high end for the grade" and the * is "exceptional eye appeal". Whereas the + for PCGS means "high for the grade" and not because of the eye appeal -- i.e. they are equivalent as far as NGC and PCGS are concerned. CAC's green sticker is similar in that it signifies "high for the grade" as well, and was first to the ball game, thus my impression that NGC and PCGS are both reacting to CAC.

 

CAC's golden sticker represents a slabbed coin that is high for the grade or perhaps one they feel is under graded. (I've never personally seen one yet.)
The green one means they just agreed with the grade that was given by the TPG. If they feel it was low for the grade, the slab won't receive any sticker.

 

I am glad you weighed in on this, Doug. Maybe what I should conclude is that PCGS has made clear in writing on its website how it has graded for some time but that this clarification about how eye appeal can bump a grade by up to a full point shows that PCGS disagrees with NGC's attempt to segregate eye appeal from the numerical grade. In a system where you bump a grade up based on eye appeal, you could not also have a star system.

I also think there are a few people who are confused about how CAC will deal with Plus coins but they shouldn't be if they read the CAC press release from March 12. CAC made clear it will ignore a plus on the slab, a star on the slab, a rainbow on the slab etc. If it is assessing an MS66+, CAC will determine whether it considers the coin an MS66 that is an A or a B coin, and if so, will sticker it. It will then guarantee that coin at the CAC going rate for an MS66. The plus designation does not play in at all. Of course, CAC may decide to change its policy, but it seems they are ignoring Plus designations for now.

Jeff

 

In the case of NGC as they adopt the plus approach, I'm going to be curious to learn whether they retain the star designation.

 

The star designation is a major factor in the NGC registry system. Discontinuing the star designation would throw the whole point system into chaos. Additionally, it really is independent of the numerical grade so there is no reason to eliminate the designation. I would be very surprised if NGC decided to drop the designation.

It would seem to me that PCGS is making a mistake with the plus designation. If NGC has plans to implement the plus designation without charging more money, I don't know how PCGS will compete by requiring all plus graded coins to be submitted through the more expensive Secure Plus service. Should be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

At the risk of beating this into the ground, let's take a hypothetical (I can hear the groans).

First, assume that PCGS and NGC both give a 1938-D Walker a technical grade of 65.4 (since they're now internally grading coins to three digits). Second, assume the coin has exquisite eye appeal -- what PCGS has categorized as "Amazing".

It is clear that PCGS would grade this coin an MS66 (one grade bump for amazing eye appeal). If I understand your answer, Doug, NGC would also grade it MS66 without a star.

However, NGC says they award the star to coins with "exceptional" eye appeal. However, this must be an "exceptional" that is not enough to warrant a grade bump.

By the way, I would like that hypothetical 38-D Walker, regardless of the holder.