I see on Apmex that PCGS carries a slightly higher premium but I thought I read that NGC is stricter with their grading. Which offers the best presentation (look and quality of the slab)? Which offers the better long term value preservation?
PCGS always get more money. NGC looks much better in my opinion. opinions vary. some people are purist and like them all the same company in their collections. I have both and like both.
Definitely not always, but yeah, they often do. But nowhere near as often as they used to, and nowhere near to the degree (amount) that they used to. In years past it was pretty normal for PCGS coins to bring higher prices than NGC coins. That was laregly due to two things, 1 the perception that PCGS was more strict with grading, and 2 that perception was created & perpetuated by a more successful advertising campaign (hype) on the part of PCGS. But over the years people became aware that the truth of the matter was that NGC was actually tougher on grading some coins, and PCGS was tougher on grading other coins. And as more and more people became of the truth and accepted it the difference in prices that the 2 companies brought began to narrow and drop. And a drop in the difference has continued ever since. Today that difference is much, much, less than it was years ago. Also, nowadays more people actually practice the mantra of buy the coin not the slab. There are several reasons for this. More have recognized that grading standards have changed over time, more have recognized that there are grades within grades, and that no two coins even those graded the same and by the same company are equal. As for the two questions asked by the OP, the first is purely chocolate and vanilla. The second, neither one. They are equal in that regard in my opinion. The price of coins doesn't change over time because of who slabbed them. The price of coins changes over time because the market changes.
