Is one better than the other? Has any CT forum members ever sent coins to Canada to be graded? Is it cheaper in Canada to have coins graded? Is there an auction site in Canada besides ebay? Any forums for tokens or coins in Canada I should check out? These questions are for discussion only, nothing more and nothing less. I love Canadian coinage and US coinage, in fact I love all coins unless they're damaged or aluminum, then they go down a notch. This is an open forum and if you're from another country and you just want to share information on how your county grades or doesn't grade, feel free. :kewl:
There is a great forum at coincommunitu based on Canadian coins, as well as www.canadiancoins.com (I hope that's the site, I'm on my phone so I don't know, just google "CCRS COINS" the forum will show up) for tokens there isn't anything great I know of, but I have been trying to get it going on my site. I can't share the link but maybe someone else can. As for Canadian grading services there are two. CCCS and ICCS Both have outstanding reputations and ICCS especially, grades much stricter than all the top TPG's in the States. Grading standards in Canada, in general, are stricter than American standards. Not sure about prices. Sorry.
Fretboard ... Yes, the CCRS site is a good one, as well as the one that Snaz alluded to: Canadiancoppercoin, of which he is the webmaster and it's a realtively new evolution, but with greta possibilities for copper junkies. The CCRS site has 3-4 of the top Provincial token guys in No America, and everyone from high end collectors to newbies to world-known dealers and researchers ... all dealing with Canadian coinage and a few laughs as well. I'd advise you to join in both of them, if only to lurk .. but you get knowledge where you look for it and it's on both sites.
Yes. There are 2 main stream TPG Companies. There is also a few "basement slabbers" starting to spring up. Canadian Coin Certification Service does coins as well as paper money. They are the only one in Canada who has a website and is accountable online. Grading is very strick compared to PCGS or NGC.
"stricter" doesn't mean "better". Anybody can low-grade a coin; I can take your MS64, poor-mouth it, and call it a VF25. As to whether the canadian grading services are any good - the point is moot. The canadian market is microscopic compared to the US market. If you want to have your coins graded by the canadian services, go ahead. But you'll be met with a lot of blank stares when it's time to sell. Maybe that's fair, maybe it's not. But that, too, is moot. We deal with the market on the market's terms, not our own. If widespread perception says a given service (say ICG) has no cred, then they have no cred. Unfortunately, perception is, to a large degree, reality in this biz. I wish it weren't so, but it is.
Another major factor - I'd like to know how many coins the canadian services grade in a year. I would like to see how they do if they handled the volume a US TPG handles. Just curious.
I agree with 900fine. It depends on which market you want to sell in. If selling to Canadian coin collectors in Canada, then ICCS and CCCS will help raise the value you can get. If selling to a collector in the United States or just about any where else outside of Canada it may actually hurt. They are just not known well outside of Canada.
Just bought my first ICCS coin. It appears great. I'm bidding on a NGC canadian dollar I hope I win I'd like to compare.
Funny I should stumble upon this thread. I was looking through some coins I plan to have slabbed by the "major" TPGs (PCGS or NGC) and ran across my 1875 U.S. Twenty Cent piece slabbed by ICCS. I bought it from a Canadian gentleman that winters in Florida some years ago. It is WAY UNDERGRADED IMHO. It's slabbed as an XF40. Traces of original mint luster, original surfaces and VERY strong detail. At work we have an NGC (I believe) coin of the same date on ebay graded an F12 and it absolutely pales in comparison. Sure it's a big grade jump but recently I saw a VF20 75CC graded by NGC and nowhere NEAR the detail of my "XF40". U.S. Twenty Cent pieces are difficult to grade as the all important LIBERTY was RAISED in the design. Therefore it was a high wear point. As much as I like my "Canadian slab" it will be cracked out and graded by an Amercian TPG. I see a nice jump in the grade. I know it's a reach but buying U.S. coins graded by Canadian TPGs and Canadian coins graded by American TPGs may yield some surprising results for crossovers. Food for thought.
