this story appears on another forum. a very astute collector just sent in a lot of approximately 20 or so morgans of varying dates and grades( some were of the same date as the gentleman is a vam collector). all these coins were graded by both anacs and ngc. he sent the coins in to pcgs for crossover grading. every single morgan came back graded EXACTLY as it had in the previous holder. so, is this an anomaly, or... can we attribute this to the collector who simply knows his coins? this collector knows his morgan dollars so i am inclined to think that he bought the coin, not the slab and he knows how to grade because he studied and learned to apply the knowledge he acquired (buy the book before the coin). any opinions or comments? i think it was interesting due to the constant tpg vs tpg stories we normally read about.........steve
Talent and luck/chance were involved. The submitter could really know his stuff and yet, easily still end up with very different results.
Open question : Is it typical for NGC coins to crossover to PCGS at par ? If so, that suggests they have similar grading standards. It would also suggest any perception that PCGS grading is superior to NGC is ill-founded.
i was also surprised that, since grading is so subjective, he did get those results, especially w/ a single submission of 20 coins. it was interesting enough that i thought i would pass it on.
Not to go too far off topic, but PCGS comes off a bit snooty to me. Kinda like the "soup nazi" of the coin world... "No, we will NOT grade your coins, and NO you may NOT have your submission fee back!!!" I've sent them an email with some general questions about the type of coins they refuse and they never replied. It's the main reason why I haven't signed up to become a "member of the club" yet.
FWIW, here is their posting on their site : Problem-Free Coins PCGS has a policy prohibiting the encapsulation of coins with problems such as: artificial toning, excessive cleaning, environmental damage, PVC damage, major scratches, or planchet flaws. (Note: PCGS does not refund grading fees on coins which must be rejected, since the coin must be examined to determine its status.) http://www.pcgs.com/bill.chtml Other TPGs have similar policies except ANACS will grade them and note the problem on the slab. So will NCS (brother company of NGC). If you suspect a coin will body bag, one option is to submit to ANACS or NCS. If it's actually good, it will wind up in a problem-free slab.
There are nice coins to be found in all holders. The marketplace tends to favor PCGS from a valuation basis, which further skews things in PCGS's favor because many nice coins in other holders are crossed over to PCGS.
No, that's a mint error. There is nothing wrong with the planchet itself. Planchet flaws include porosity, corrosion, and rim bumps. Maybe more.
How frequently do they fail to crossover ? (going both ways 'twixt NGC and PCGS...and ANACS and ICG, for that matter)
