After some hunting through the forums and interwebs I figured I'd throw these questions out to the group regarding grading and slabbing service providers... 1. Who do you use and why? 2. Who do you NOT use and why? 3. Who do you trust (when buying) and why? 4. Who do you NOT trust (when buying) and why? Im trying to determine who to use considering cost is a factor unless I come across something I can retire on I am asking this from the standpoint of very limited/no knowledge in grading and slabbing so please keep it simple for me. Thank you all in advance
I'm not trying to offend you, but if you don't have a basic understanding of grading, then will find the grading submission experience very disappointing and costly. Chris
None taken. I wanted to include that statement to avoid getting uber technical feedback that would lead to a two hour tangent of googling numismatic terminology. I'm just looking for opinions on route most cost effective while maintaining accuracy. Also trying to get a gauge for overall reputation and satisfaction.
Thanks @Victor they seem to be pretty popular on here. And comparing them to PCGS and NGC I'll keep them at the top of my options.
Thank you @davidh do you have a website? I'd be willing to pay an extra $5 if it comes with a hologram of you on the "slab"
Slabbing means absolutely nothing to me personally, so my only motivation to ever submit coins is purely for resale profit. With that in mind, for many issues a PCGS slab enjoys a market premium over NGC (no other TPG returns prices high enough to matter, with one exception I'll mention later) sufficient to offset the extra cost of PCGS slabbing. That does not apply in all cases; anecdotally I've come across many sets of auction records while researching prices where NGC coins enjoy a premium of their own over PCGS. The coin market and pricing (and the TPG's themselves) are quite changeable, and last year's truism might be this year's wrong advice. The one exception is Morgan Dollars, which I would only ever have graded by ANACS. My intended buying demographic for those would be variety enthusiasts, and ANACS is in a different league than PCGS/NGC when it comes to attributing Morgan varieties. Morgan people know this, and also know ANACS grades Morgans fairly to boot. In that specialization I would expect an ANACS coin to return on par with anyone's slabs.
@SuperDave more or less covered it for me. When selling, generally I want PCGS. When buying, I trust my eyes on matters of grading and welcome the opinion of PCGS, NGC, ANACS, or ICG on matters of authenticity (although I can authenticate pretty much everything I would consider buying, and wouldn't dream of selling anything I couldn't).
Even with a slabbed coin, your eyes and judgment still play key roles. The grading services ain't perfect, by a long shot.
I was wondering this too so I'm happy to see someone already started a thread on it. Do any of them excel over the others with American or Ancients? I have a few of each I'm considering sending in and a friend has some American gold he wants me to send in for him.
Nobody's perfect, there are advantages and disadvantages for each, some of which depend on personal taste. Discussions of this often end up like a Coke/Pepsi, Ford/Chevy, vi/emacs holy war.
Collectors of ancients generally disapprove of slabbing. No company guarantees authenticity, and the grades they give are a joke.
@SuperDave thank you so much for sharing this. I fully agree with, and understand, the importance of trusting ones eye when making a decision on a coin but until I gain that confidence I'm at the mercy of the stickers on slabs, for the most part. I'm a novice, at best, and am getting better at eyeing the differences in grading groups (goods, fines, AUs and MSs) but while flipping through the Redbook and Coin World the price jumps between some grades make me a little gun-shy (like some doubling or tripling in value from EF-40 to AU-50). My safest position until I get better with grading by eye will be to stay away from purchasing coins that fall in that category, keep practicing grading already graded coins and heed the advice of the experienced. Thanks again. The advantages and disadvantages are a part of what I'm looking for as well. The pricing is on their websites but who specializes in what and in a close call who do you trust and why? Opinions hold weight if in common with many and with what I've learned on CT in just a couple days I figured this would be the best pool to see who's drinking/driving what and why.
I like PCGS and NCS best, but have bought from ANACS and PCI and (ICCS for Canadian coins). most important is buy the coin not the holder. if you buy raw coins.... buy them from reputable dealers. If you do not trust the dealers opinion ask another dealers opinion on their coin. I once offered lunch to another dealers opinion on another dealers coin. nothing wrong with getting another opinion, but do it tackfully.
The guy who founded CAC also founded NGC and PCGS. He only stickers those companies. Ironic. ANACS, NGC, and PCGS all offer a guarantee of authenticity, which counts for a lot. ANACS costs less to use. The grade on the slab is up to you to determine if it's good. Learn to grade, then judge the coin. The authenticity guarantee is one heck of an insurance deal, so stick to the top 3.
American gold would do best in PCGS holders, if they are just going to be worth melt with the grade though ANACS would be fine for authenticating. If they are coins that have a legitimate shot at a strong numismatic premium go with PCGS. Any money saved on the submission fees would be lost on the selling premium in that instance. PCGS doesn't do ancients though so you would have to use ANACS or NGC for those. Given that an NGC slab is unlikely to hold a premium over ANACS for ancients I would just go with ANACS for those
I've gotten to the point where I just self slab any that I plan to keep. I will use ANACS on occasion as I did when they a Lincoln special.
Like @dwhiz I prefer to self grade and self slab. To me, when I buy a coin, I buy to keep longterm. I really don't care for someone in a stuffy underventilated cubicle's opinion of a coin I'm interested in.
Thank you @spirityoda now I know where to send my silver maples! And good point on a second opinion- always a good idea if any doubt is had.