what do you think of TPG's you have used?

hey speedy
I heard something similar, but it was not "on the record"
wink wink... nudge nudge... say no more...

IF anacs gets a registry service, like the collectors society... and they allow coins form other grading services (at least NGC and pcgs, ICG would be nice) they have a serious shot at the #1 spot IMO.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

did I say anything??....I'm not into that kind of thing so I can really care less if they get one--about the only time I think about doing one is when I look at my Proof66 Franklin set....maybe I'll do it someday!

Speedy

 

I have a bunch of world gold coins, nothing amazing. Most of them purchased for a little above melt, but nice coins. What would be the best grading service to send them to? I know all of them are eligable for all of the main services.

Just looking for rumors or info, I have heard that ICG is really tough on American gold, but i have not heard anything about world gold.

thanks for any info!

(I was going to send them to anacs, but i really want to give some others a shot

 

I really like the registry, its almost like a "virtual" coin album
but thats a topic for a different thread

 

Ranchhand, thanks for writing such a lengthy post. I've learned a lot about ANACS from reading it.

 

Until ANACS provides collectors with a population report, they will be a step down from PCGS and NGC.

 

thanks, thats why i did it

from what i have heard they are going ot be updating their web site, i would guess that a pop report would also be part of the overhaul... but its just a guess...

 

I like ANACS as well,mainly because they will grade cleaned coins.Just think of the millions of beautiful lightly cleaned coins from the past two centuries that could never be slabbed otherwise.Some of you may remember that I sent in the most beautifully struck Trade Dollar I have ever seen,outside of proof examples.It had been graded by the original ANACS in 1986 at AU50:cleaned,and got it back in a slab marked AU58:Cleaned......old type slab because of the details grade.
If not for ANACS,I'd be S.O.L.

 

I just received my latest submission info from NGC. I do not have the coins in hand yet, just the results.
001 1926 SESQUICENTENNIAL 50C MS IMPROPERLY CLEANED
002 1935 S SAN DIEGO 50C MS 66
003 1935 S TEXAS 50C MS 64
004 1936 ROBINSON 50C MS 63
005 1946 D BOOKER T WASHINGTON 50C MS 64

I really have no luck with the sesquicentennials ;(
I was expecting the Robinson to come back a higher grade, but they where dead on with my opinions of the Texas, san diego, and booker t.

This time around I had them image my coins. Attached are the images.
They are awful.
I believe that they are trying to image the coins to allow you to see scratches, dings, etc. But whatever they are doing is making the coins look very flat and lifeless.
Specifically: The Robinson and San Diego have tons of flash, which is not evident on the images. the Booker T is a complete disappointment, as it has lovely honey toning that is absent form the image.

Based on my experience I can not recommend NGC's imaging service, it is not worth the $3.00 a coin. The good news is that they will not image or charge you an imaging fee for coins that are body bagged.

 

More of the images:

 

I have a huge submission at ANACS right now, including a crossover. I also have a submission to NCS.
I plan on updating this thread with my experiences with the TPG as i have more information to post.
Feel free to add your own experiences here, I started this thread to not only post my opinions and experiences, but to also hear your experiences (good or bad)

 

Just got part of my ANACS order back to day, i have two old anacs slabs that i brought in for re-holdering. When they re-holder old anacs slabs they also regrade. My 1943 walker came back 1 point higher to MS-64 and a Booker T commem from 1946 came back MS-65.
I was happy, as i felt the coins where under graded after comparing them to similarly graded NGC and PCGS coins.

If you have any old ANACS slabs i recommend sending them in to get them in the new holders, It isn;t expensive ($5 per coin) and the new holder is really nice.

 

Do they have a place for you to voice your opinions of the imaging work they did? I think they are on to a niche the public would like and It would be nice if they can take criticisims and comments on the job they are doing. Who knows, if what you have to say about the images is something that they have been working on to correct they might actually drop some of the charges on the images, or even try to redo the images before sending you the coins.. if they haven't already sent them that is.

Good luck and thanks for posting the nice images.

Tom

 

Well Ranch
I learned grading from the "old school" and while I understand and try to keep up with Market Grading I think ANACS went the same road ICG did....if you look at ICG they are great with coins dated before 1964 and coins that are circulated--but send them a modern and they will almost always overgrade it--before James Taylor took over in JAN and changed things around ANACS was really hard on coins and graded right IMHO--now you see tons of MS/PF70's poping up and their grading is sometimes off.....many times it could be their slab as I don't think their slabs make the coin look good in photos but the coins look overgraded a good bit of the time--I know dealers that agree and disagree with me---I've only seen a few of the new ANACS slabs in hand and what I've seen they are still pretty good on Morgan Dollars but on the others I've seen it looks like they have gone lose on them....
Now I hope that as time goes on I'll see more and more right graded coins from them and I'll change my mind---and if I do I'll send them more coins to grade---my last shipment went to NGC.
And maybe I've been wrong all-a-long....and that could very well be the case--I know that you have gotten your coins back from them and you really liked them---maybe it was just the first few months with all of the changes and moving that made them overgrade some....

Speedy

 

Hey speedy...
I will admit that i have no experience with "new" coins, I tend to stick to older stuff so i can not comment on how they grade modern, as this is a realm i stay out of for the most part.... I have a tough time accepting an MS70 penny from 2003 being worth $15,000.
But i digress.

My only experience with anacs has been in the last month, and i have been pretty happy with them. NGC is still my favorite, they have IMHO good grading and customer service. The coins my dealer has shown me in ANACS slabs have been really nice, they do seem to be very tough on "cleaning" though. My dealer showed me a really nice barber in a cleaned holder, it looked like proof barbers I have seen in NGC and PCGS holders.

I will say that, so far, I have agreed with every grade they have given my coins, except that darn Columbian exposition.

As far as the NGC imaging goes, they basically send you an email with the images attached at the same time as they ship your order out, so no room to stop them. It also apears that they take the picture BEFORE the coins are encapsulated but do not send the pics to you until after its to late to get them re-imaged.

Here is the e-mail i received from them:
We have revised our image format in response to your requests for more
vibrant images with magnified coin detail. The change required that we no
longer show the coin in its holder. The NGC certification number of your
coin is included in the image, and separate obverse and reverse pictures are
still provided. We welcome your comments and feedback.

I have left off my invoice number and other info

so i have not gotten around to complaining yet. but now that you remind me i think i will on Monday

 

SEGS
Yes, I have used them, when they first opened, at that time I felt that they'd be one of the strictest in the hobby.
Since then, they have relaxed a lot, but they are still pretty accurate.
By the way they slab problem coins, and grade them with a notation (eg cleaned) no net grading.

 

OK, got an update.
i just received a batch of coins from NCS (Numismatic Conservation Services)

Pros
can "flight check" your coins before sending them to NGC (no body bags)
do a good job at fixing coins with issues
holder is in some ways nicer than the NGC slab, the gasket is semi-transparent (please see negs for more info)
good customer service
relatively fast (they had my coins back to me 3 weeks ahead of schedule)
they won;t conserve a coin if they feel it will not be needed (you still pay the eval fee)

CONS
EXPENSIVE! god what was I thinking!
Holder has very bad optics, it has a rainbow "sheen" to it and seems more cloudy than other slabs plastics

just a warning guys, don;t send a big order off to NCS unless you are prepped for a big bill. I sent a feuchtwanger cent off to them and ended up paying $48 for the conservation, it came back "improperly cleaned" in their slab. To be fair this thing was really crudded up, and their was no way for me to tell if it was cleaned or not before i sent it in. they did a REALLY good job fixing it up, its to bad they revealed old cleaning. I have attached an image of it (i had it imaged by them) I am not to sore about it, this is one of my "fun" pieces because it has such an interesting story and history behind it.

So, if you have coins that are in bad shape, and are worth $$$ i recommend sending them in, just be prepped for a bill at the end.

One of my tests was to see if sending "questionable" coins to them to avoid getting body bagged, but still get in a holder. This part of my experiment is a big failure. If you have questionable coins you want slabbed send them to ANACS, MUCH CHEAPER!!!!! you end up with the same results, for a ton less money.

If you do have coins that you feel may be cleaned, but are not sure i highly recommend sending them to ANACS. ANACS can be very tough on cleaned coins. If they come back from ANACS without problems they will probably have no problems going to NGC or PCGS for crossover.You will end up spending less money this way.

I have seen examples of coins that NCS has worked on that really improved them, like old proofs (1800's) that had black spotting that they turned into 66's. those coins are worth the expense.

If you have any coins worth less than $200 forget about it, its not worth the money.

I wish i had pictures of the feuchtwanger, it was mostly black with some buildup on it, not pretty at all.