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Message:: [QUOTE="The Penny Lady®, post: 1744220, member: 16948"]Stacks Bowers and PCGS (both in Irvine) recently announced the following  grading and consignment event at Stacks’ new offices and since PCGS was offering tours of their offices at the same time, I thought I’d take the opportunity to consign some coins I’ve had for a while to the August ANA auction and take PCGS up on their tour offer which is what I did today.  Here is their announcement:    So I went to Stacks Bowers’ offices first <img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02047.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> I met with Scott Reiter so he could write up my consignments.<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02049.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Then Scott took me on a tour of their offices.  Here is their beautiful new building <img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02054.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> These are their affiliates that are also housed in the same building<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02055.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Something in particular caught my eye – they have WINE auctions too (sadly, I didn't see any actual bottles of wine)!<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02056.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02057.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is the main lobby with a security guard who checks you in<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02053.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is a secondary lobby, also with a security guard<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02050.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Then I was introduced to two of Stacks’ amazing catalogers:   Jim Matthews<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02051.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Frank Van Valen<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02052.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> In this room is someone you may recognize from some of my show reports - Corbin, a PCGS grader working on consignment coins, and a very nice Stack’s staffer Sarah Jackels assisting him.<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02048.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />  Then it was off to PCGS for my private tour! When I first  arrived, I did have to leave my purse with the security guys.  And of  course, before the tour I asked if it would be ok to take photos, and  then I also asked permission from Don and Steve before each picture that  I took.  There were certain more sensitive areas where I knew they  wouldn't want me to take photos so I didn't even ask, like the security  office and the Secure Plus area.  Other than that, whenever I asked if I  could take a picture, they said it was ok - they truly were great  hosts, very nice, kind, easy going, and didn't mind answering any  questions I had.                                                                                                                                                                             I first met with Don Willis who showed me around the corporate office<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02058.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is part of their customer service area <img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02059.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is John Nelson, PCGS’s webmaster!<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02060.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Mike Sherman, PCGS’s VP<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02061.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Kristen in Marketing<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02063.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Catherine in Graphic Design<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02062.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Don Willis in his office<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02065.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />  Then Steve Mayer, PCGS’s Chief Operating Officer, took over my tour and brought me down to the security area, receiving area, and grading rooms.  As you can imagine, the security room has camera views EVERYWHERE – from the parking lot, to the customer “red phone” entry door to the dealer lobby (no more stealing pens and rubberbands!) and of course everywhere in between!  This is the room where all the coins are held except during the time they are being processed.  The room is surrounded by 6-inch thick concrete and steel walls, including the ceiling.<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02066.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is one of the desks where the mail is opened – note the video cameras that record all packages as they are opened.<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02067.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> These are small white boxes that hold coins from each submission – they have already been separated from the submission form.  The step before this is where the information from a submission form is inputted in the computer and the coins are then separated from the form and placed in their own white box with stickered labels on the box and each coin identifying the submission form number – it does NOT contain any customer information so the graders do not know who submitted the coin(s).  All submissions and coins are labeled, verified, and doublechecked along each step of the way<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02068.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is the main grading room<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02070.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> And here are several graders – that’s senior grader Charley Brown in the back by the wall<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02069.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is the bulk grading room<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02071.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This guy is placing the coin in the clear round gasket, then places the coin and gasket between the top and bottom pieces of the slab, as well as the label<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02074.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Then these guys put the slab and coin on this press and seal the slab together.  These guys are lightening fast and you can tell these guys have been doing this for quite a while!<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02073.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> They have the same process for baseball cards<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02076.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> A sealed blank slab<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/CentralCoast-20120516-02079.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is where the coins are verified and reunited with the submission forms<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02072.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is the shipping room.  PCGS uses USPS Overnight Express to ship coins to customers unless the customer has their own FedEx account.  This is the FedEx side<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02077.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This is only a half day’s pile of coins ready to be shipped – they usually ship out twice this much in one day<img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Anaheim-SantaAna-GardenGrove-20120516-02078.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> I didn’t take any photos but I was also showed the Secure Plus room where they take the digital images of coins submitted for Secure Plus grading.  (I was told that most all foreign coins are now digitally imaged.)  The person working in this room had two small machines about the size of an old Browning camera along with two computer screens, and while one coin was being processed, the guy would work on the other machine/computer so he could process coins twice as fast.  He was very adept in what he was doing! I really enjoyed my tour and very much appreciate Don and Steve taking the time to personally walk me through their facility.  The tour was so interesting and very helpful in giving me a much better understanding of PCGS’s grading process.  THANK YOU Don and Steve!!!!  My next stop was the office of Ian Russell’s GreatCollections.com (also in Irvine).  Since Stacks Bowers’ generally had a $1,000 minimum coin value they would accept for the Philly ANA auction, I also had some coins below that minimum so I decided to take them to Ian.  Yes, I know I could have simply give them to Teletrade since they were right there in the same building as Stacks Bowers, but I really like to give smaller companies as much of my business as I can, since I am sort of in the same boat!  Not to mention that Ian and his wife Raeleen are two of the hardest working people I know! <img src="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/CentralCoast-20120516-02080.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />  So that’s it – Hope you all enjoyed this little tour as much as I did!!![/QUOTE]

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