PCGS, NGC or CAC?

My membership is nearing renewal for PCGS and I can't help but think of greener pastures elsewhere. The Trueview images were pretty bad for the few coins I had submitted, and the turnaround times weren't anything to brag about. From what I've heard 'round the campfire... PCGS for gold, NGC for everything else (particularly coppers) but I can't help but think "what about CAC" now that they've stuck their foot in the door for TPG services.

Any opinions that you can share on which TPG I might choose? I've got a few (maybe 4-7 coins) that I'm considering sending in for grading. If they grade highly enough, my intention would be to sell them and use that money to buy... you guessed it... more coins! If they grade in a mediocre state (average grade for minimal premium), I would very likely just hold onto them until a better replacement presents itself. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't sell any of my Morgan dollars (graded or not) unless they received some ludicrous grade that would essentially help me finish one or more of the albums, but that shouldn't be a problem as I am not planning on sending any of them in for grading!

Thanks for your time and advice, and I hope you're all having a wonderful Sunday evening!

 

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I'm not for doing the submission of coins. However, I'd say it depends on the coins that decides which TPG'er to use. Do you have an example?

 

my NGC just expired.. will renew with my next submission (if I ever have time to get it together lol) never joined PCGS as i had a LCS that did PCGS submissions. It used to be you got a free NGC membership with your ANA membership, but they recently stopped doing that.

On a side note: NGC Registry accepts both PCGS and NGC with talk of including CAC and NGCX in the near future. PCGS registry is PCGS only.

 

Check out CAC. They've a deal going on. I signed on, but not sure if I'll use the $50 credit as I'm not much of a submittal fellow. Still, nice knowing if I do decide to send something in I'll be dealing with a worthy enterprise......

 

NGC ran a black Friday deal last year, they may again.

 

CAC Grading, as opposed to CAC -which is the choice for previously NGC/PCGS encapsulated graded pieces.

CAC Grading is VERY conservative and the Grading Standards are as stringent as CAC.

Their Registry will work fine, and more self-build classifications, if the goal was a TPG with Registry offering.

 

1929 quarter eagle, 1883 V nickel (possibly a proof), 1834 bust half, maybe a 1930 SLQ, and some others.

 

I'm ok with stringent standards so long as they're grading them fairly. I would assume they all do as good of a job that they can, but i know that they're only people and people make mistakes from time to time.

 

Thanks Charley, it was late when I posted that.

 

I wonder that, too. Maybe they'll just hold onto your coins until you renew? (My attempt at sarcasm)

 

You're not considering ANACS?

I mean, there's no annual fee. You could just budget the amount of the NGC/PCGS membership fee towards grading and get 6 to 15 coins graded each year at that price point...

 

I've submitted only at NGC. Their photos have really stepped up in the last year. The only draw back is if you send world coins in the economy tier. They take a very long time, with the current turnaround time at 96 business days! I really hope they get this resolved soon, but it has only gotten worse for that tier specifically the last two years. The one U.S. submission I sent in economy was done quickly.

 

I like the idea of ANACS because they still assign a number grade to problem-coins, which by itself is a huge positive point for coins with possible issues. But if I'm going to be sending in my best (non-Morgan) coins for grading, I think I would prefer them in a slab that appeals to more potential buyers. Maybe I'm wrong and more people than I assume simply don't care which holder it's in, but from what I've seen so far ANACS just doesn't fit into the top-tier of TPG's. They really are enticing though... for the money, you get a lot more than the others.

 

Full disclosure, I work about a show a month as an ANACS convention representative. So, I know a bit about some people favoring each service for different reasons. They each have their own strengths & weaknesses

As the oldest TPG, ANACS is pretty widely recognized as a top tier grader. But, there are some series where each of the grading services are considered "tougher" or "looser" on their grading standards. I don't really buy that reputation, but some folks certainly submit different things than I do.

One of the big auction houses always recommends PCGS holders "for the best auction results", but there are some financial reasons behind that I won't get into (some would call those recommendations a conflict of interest). I think the coin in the holder usually has the most to do with the final hammer price, myself.

 

I do agree that there seems to be a slightly interesting compliance between some auction houses and their respective preferred grading companies. I get a lot of email and snail mail regarding that currently, and I try my best to ignore it. Honestly... I can't afford 90% of the stuff in those mailers anyways, so the joke is on them! Lol!

I will absolutely send something in to ANACS at some point. I've gotten enough potential details coins to justify it, or close to the threshold for sending them off.

For my next potential package for grading, I'm looking for a few things. First and foremost would be an accurate and honest grade. Pretty simple, I would like to think. Except for those details coins!

Next is imaging quality, which i suppose kind of mildly ties into the grade. But I think it would be nice to at least have some great pictures of these coins, as my intent would be to sell them if graded at the point of turning a nice little profit. Anything less seems like another tall tale of my fish that got away (without a good picture).

Lastly would be the open market's desire for whichever coin it is, and I've seen lots of the higher priced coinage sold with PCGS or NGC holders than ANACS, at least in looking online. CACG is something I haven't researched very much, but I'm looking at a little slowdown on my work schedule for the foreseeable future, so maybe I'll dig into everything a bit and make my decision!

 

I see this topic a bit different than most. I need a really good reason to ever change the holder that a coin is in. It's a risk that I don't care to take unless I'm going to sell the coin. Right now, I'm actually selling most of my collection.

Great Collections is helping me with this. I send them raw coins and coins in off brand holders. They send them to PCGS to crack out and grade. Once graded, GC and I decide what is worthy of sending to CAC for stickers. This has worked really well for me. GC, PCGS and CAC are located close to each other. This saves me a nice amount of postage and insurance.

With coins needing conservation, I use ICG and have them graded after the work is done. The problem coins will stay in the ICG holders. If they straight grade, they may go to PCGS before going to auction.

I like the folks at NGC and plan to use them on some things I feel will do better in their holder.

 

I wouldn't bother. I only buy ANACS graded coins when they are cheap and not graded properly, which is usually the case. Every time I've cracked and ANACS slab I got a better grade from NGC, even with details coins. And its usually not even close. one example, a rare gold coin that ANACS graded VF details, NGC graded AU details. On this particular coin that meant a big difference in value and NGC got it right, as best I could tell. The details was for scratches, so no argument there, but VF vs AU, wow.

 

VF details vs AU details? Sounds like one or the other dropped the ball on that one.

 

I am a fan of ngc for world coins. Both pcgs and ngc for us stuff. I will pickup ANACS older stuff when it appears but have issues with their grading as of late