I have an MS70 2004 Silver Eagle graded by Numismatic Grading Service (NGS). Does anyone know anything about NGS? I can't locate anything about them.
Howdy Duckhill3 - Welcome to the Forum !! I think your problem may be the name - I believe the company is called NuGrade Service. You can find them by search engine rather easily. This is 3rd rate grading company - it ranks among many others as having little or no respect at all among knowledgeable collectors. Were you to try and sell your coin in their holder - you might receive $10 if you were lucky. Does that tell you about them ? If you wish to purchase slabbed coins, or have coins slabbed by a grading company - use one of and ONLY one of the following companies - NGC - ANACS - ICG - PCGS. That's it - no others. The only exception to this rule would be if you consider yourself to be quite knowledgeable when it comes to grading coins. Then you could grade the coin yourself and make a judgement regardless of the slab.
NGS is going after those people that may confuse it with NGC. NGC is one of the top four as GDJMSP mentioned and should NEVER be confused with NGS. The same holds for PCGS. There are other 5th rate graders that have initials that can be easily mistaken for PCGS, so be careful.
The coin holder does not say NuGrade. One side says Numismatic Grading Service and the other side says NGS
NGS is NuGrade. They have changed their holders several times over the past couple of years. As stated earlier, they are a lower teir service and there values are based accordingly. Here is their website: http://www.nugrade.com/ Here is a copy of their slab:
I agree with all of the comments and would add that new collectors should stick to buying coins graded by the four main certification companies and learn to grade the series of coins that they are interested in collecting.. I have also bought and sold coins over the years with good success that are in PCI holders because that company has been around for many years grading coins.
Hi Duckhill3.. I have been unable to find Numismatic Grading Services on the web either.. They are not NuGrade Services, the 2 are totally different companies..
Using a name or initials that are easy to confuse with one of the big four would be just one more mark against an unknown TPG in my book. If you are talking about getting coins professionally graded, stick with the top tier. If you are talking about "should I buy" one graded by anyone including the top tier, ignore the slab and buy the coin.
Why does eBay allow coins graded by PCG or ANGS or other unrecognized grading companies to be sold to possibly non sophisticated buyers or any coin buyers? Even though in fine tiny print they make the seller disclose these grading companies are not recognized by eBay and even though the coin is listed and advertised with a grade is should be considered a raw coin.
Because people can sell whatever they want as long as its legal. These basement slabbers are not doing anything illegal, just shady. It’s up to the buyer to read and understand what they are getting. Also, this is a perfect example of “buy the coin and not the holder”
http://coinauctionshelp.com/NGS_TPGS.html#.XLvMEFOJLIX I researched this site that lists and explains many of the Grading companies. There are probably many more slab graders out there. Learn Eye Appeal and study many graded coins at coin shows or coin club meetings. Although not mentioned here, I send many of my variety coins to SEGS for their variety service. I have found them very strict on grading, at least my coins, but they have one of the strongest and easily readable slabs in the industry. Whereas some grading services will say AU details, cleaned. SEGS gives a more accurate grade such as AU-53 or AU-55 or AU-58 details, cleaned. Buy a coin based on your determination of eye appeal and grade, not the slab. I just sent a 1937 Proof Australian Crown to SEGS. It was in an ANA Certification Service Flip registered # C2291. It will be interesting if they get the Variety correct. So study the website I mention above and learn about the many grading and slabbing services. Welcome to coin collecting and Coin talk.
Actually if they list the grading service by name or give a numerical grade in the description or show it on the slab it is against Ebay rules. The problem is they have to be reported and ebay is so large that it takes a long time to work their way through all the reports made in all the different departments. So often by the time they get to them and can act it is too late.
NGS is NOT NuGrade... TruGrade ended and NuGrade started in 2004/2005, using the same shell. Then the partners split up, with NuGrade continuing to slab for Universal Grading Service (UGS) until 2006. I have not seen a trace of the shells since then. NGS is one of 20-30 basement and below slabbers using the old Numistrust shells. IGS is probably the most commonly seen. As a rule they are so bad I haven't even bothered recording them or giving them an album or box. They get a former bucket that held Milano cookies.
They don't even stop the Chinese and Russian sellers of counterfeits. That's where they need to start.
