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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Prethen, post: 24922, member: 1756&quot;]<b>One service seems to be always left out...</b></p><p><br /></p><p>I think you&#039;re overlooking the new kid on the block...ICG.&nbsp; They are FAR from a low-tier service.&nbsp; Unfortunately, I&#039;ve found out the hard way, they are very hard line when it comes to grading, maybe a little too hard.&nbsp; From everything I&#039;ve seen they appear to be very conservative graders at a minimum and very accurate at a maximum.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve heard more than one dealer bad mouth them, but it was more along the lines of that they couldn&#039;t sell the slab for what wholesale said it should be worth.&nbsp; I think there&#039;s a bit of ignorance out there in the collecting field when it comes to grading services.&nbsp; Many would say that PCGS is a bit too lenient.</p><p><br /></p><p>I happen to live in the Denver area and I can walk right into ICG&#039;s offices (and I have).&nbsp; I met and spoke with J.P. Martin.&nbsp; He&#039;s a very personable and very intelligent gentlemen.&nbsp; We talked about how hard it is to tell a proof from a business strike when it comes to the 1884 or 1885 3-cent nickels.&nbsp; Basically, he said you really can&#039;t even trust a business strike in those so-called upper tier services.</p><p><br /></p><p>By the way, I must say, I&#039;m very satisfied with circulated type coins that are graded by ANACS.&nbsp; They tend to be fairly conservative on those coins whereas PCI is a bit more lenient.</p><p><br /></p><p>SEGS is an interesting player.&nbsp; They don&#039;t get a lot of respect, however in a comparison study done by Coin World, on average, they undergraded everything given to them.&nbsp; Maybe that was just a fluke.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyways, I think it will only be a matter of time before ICG receives the respect it deserves.&nbsp; Many of us (including several dealers I&#039;ve spoken with) deem ICG as potentially the highest tier.&nbsp; Take a look at J.P. Martin&#039;s video on grading mint state coins.&nbsp; It&#039;s eye opening and teaches you just how strict they&#039;re grading guidelines are.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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