I wasn't submitting on my own in those early years, but I can clearly remember the extreme wait times back then. At least when they came back they were in the old rattlers and can carry a nice premium today.
They apparently gained a large percentage of the modern market for US coins more recently which is probably part of the problem getting all of those slabbed and shipped. I don't know what they do for the Paris office they may send those to Newport but the Asian offices I believe are self sufficient. I had read somewhere they had struck a rather large deal with the Chinese mint or something along those lines that if accurate had numbers that just wouldn't be practical to send to CA and back every-time. None of those offices really just opened up though. I really believe their problems have been more on the back end (slabbing and shipping ect) then in the grading room. I can understand the TrueViews being standard for secure slowing things down some and do really like that they switched to that, but not to this extent without something else going on. It did actually occur to me just now with that other thread not to long ago about their bulk submissions having different slabs that I wonder if their manufacturer hasn't been able to keep them in stock with a enough
PCGS received my first shipment to them earlier this week. I'm curious to how long it will take now after reading all of this thread. My last two shipments to NGC have come back to me in under ten business days.
Your going to be waiting at least 6 weeks,sent my first batch out july 28 and they just got graded and shipped Sept8. Sent another batch in August 29 and another the other day,I am planning on at least 6 weeks time. Then once I get them they are off to CAC for another 1-2 weeks,so yes it is a waiting game.
Right now, the Regular US service level is trending at 29 days. The submission I just sent in should be graded on October 21 +/-. I should note, and please consider, the weirder the stuff you send in, the more time it will take. Coins that require extensive research for attribution can lead to much longer times. The coin holding up my order from June 3 is an Irish token struck over a second Irish token and both are still attributable. There is probably one grader who specializes in this series, and once he attributes it, he needs to educate another so it can be verified. If you're sending in a dozen minty fresh Eagles, you're probably in better shape than those of us who live in the world of exo...
Also, I'll add that it's easy to assume that 29 business days is "about a month," but when you account for holidays and weekends, that's 39-40 days in actual time.
I sent in generic stuff, few peace dollars, seated quarter, capped half. They officially got it September eighth. I would have stuck with NGC if I saw the new wait times.
The two main reasons I use NGC is they are only two hours away from me and I like their holders more. Plus only one time have I waited the entire 12 days turn around time they have posted.
I'm the exact opposite. I'm near pcgs plus I like their holders And grading standards whole lot more. Don't fret guys, they obviously know about the situation and must be on top of it.
