What does "PCGS Population (74/123)" mean?

And "NGC Census: (75/177)
Some one educate me please.

 

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There are 75 at that grade with 177 in higher grades.

That's only a pop report of those graded by PCGS, not by any others.

 

Okay, I understand now. So would PCGS Population (74/123) mean the same thing? 74 at that grade with 123 in a higher grade.
So would that mean this coin is somewhat rare or typical for this date?

 

Yes. The first number is the number they have graded at that grade. The second number is the number they've graded at higher grades. Except for 70s, where there would be none graded higher.

 

rickmp,
Thank you very much. I try to learn something new everyday.

 

So do I. This is where I do it, too.

 

Bear in mind that if the coin is one that, because of low value, no one but a fool would have graded, the population of a very common coin would appear to be extremely low, and would in fact be the population of fools, not of a rare coin.

 

And on the other side of the coin (sorry about that) many higher grade coins get cracked out and resubmitted (sometimes multiple times) with the submitter hoping for a higher grade.
So those population figures are often somewhat inflated.

 

For the most part, population report numbers are just a marketing tool for eBay sellers.

 

Thanks guys, the numbers that I posted about was on a Seated Dollar that I saw on the Heritage Auctions Website. I was just curious about what it meant.

 

To me this information is more important if you have a registry set. It can give you an indication of just how difficult it may be to acquire a coin in a higher grade and how much you would have to pay for it. Sometimes you can find a coin in a series that the price does not jump significantly from one grade to the next higher grade, but the population has a significant drop off. In that situation, the higher grade may be worth the extra money since the populations are low.

 

What is a "registry set"?
Also, how does one go about finding out the population on coin grade?

 

Well I have a PCGS registry set for Washington Quarters. So you can go to PCGS and register and start a set. For one of my Quarter sets, there is a basic set, for all dates and mint marks from 1932 to 1964. Each coin has a weighted scale from 1 to 10. So the 1932-D is the most valuable and expensive, so it is given a value of 10. A 1957-P is very common and has a value of 1. So if you have a 1932-D in grade 62, it is assigned a value of 62 x 10 = 620 points. And a 1957-P in grade MS-62 is assigned a value of 62 x 1 = 62 points. Who ever has registered their set is ranked from the top set to the last set based upon points. For my Washington Quarter set I am ranked 88th and I have completed 46.99% of the entire set. My average grade for the coins I have is 65.15

Here is a link to the list of all the sets that are registered, if you go down the list to No. 88, you will see the NorCalJack set, click on that name and it will take you to a full listing of my set.

http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedfinest.aspx?c=77

All the coins listed in the PCGS sets need to be graded by PCGS or you can not add them to your set. At the top of the list is a link titled "View Set Composition". If you click on that link it will tell you the value of each coin for that set.

There are literally thousands of sets that you can register for and keep track of you collection. I know that registry sets are not for everyone, but for me I enjoy tracking my coins and seeing progress being made and I can access my set from anywhere I have an internet connection. So if I am at a show and I can not remember if I have a coin or not I can always access the registry set to see if I need that coin or not.

Also if you click on my set, it will show you the populations for the grade that I have. You can also go to the PCGS main page and at the bottom of the page is a link to the Population Report. By clicking on that link it will give you the PCGS populations for all of the coins they have graded to date.

Here is a link to the Washington Quarter coins and the corresponding populations.

http://www.pcgs.com/pop/detail.aspx?c=112

 

NorCalJack:
That is a lot of info. I didn't know anything about that. So if I had a 1916D dime, I would imagine it would have weight of 10 and it was a XF40 the points would be 400.
That makes since.
I learned something else today.

 

Another consideration when evaluating Populations is entries for coins which have been cracked and resubmitted (multiple times in many cases) in the interest of an upgrade. Especially for issues with a large value increase for the next grade, you can assume Populations will be overstated. People don't tell the TPG it's a crackout, so the original entry doesn't get deleted.

So Pops in grade are advisory, and likely overstated.

 

Something still don't understand is if I bought one of NorCalJack's quarters and registered it in my set, how would PCGS know who actually owns this quarter? If NorCalJack didn't report that it was sold, it looks like there would be two entrys for the same coin.

 

You're seeing it clearly, although I'd expect PCGS' software to flag the entry if the same serial is claimed twice. There is somewhat a dependence on the Honor System in the Registry.

 

No coin can be in two different peoples PCGS sets at one time. If you enter a cert number that someone else has you will have that coin rejected. You can request them to contact the other person to remove from their inventory. If they don't you can send a photo via email and they will remove it for them. At that point you can submit the coin into your inventory.

 

so, if you have a coin with an entry of a single digit (10 in this case) that mean 10 of that grade and none higher?