Which company is the toughest grader NCG or PCGS?

Whizzed is easier than cleaning. Cleaning can run a whole gamut of topics. Whizzed is easy to detect if you know what to look for. Get a good magnifying glass. Where the devices meet the fields there should not be a build up of metal. Whizzing is taking tiny little brushes to the coin to imitate mint luster. A whizzed coin might look good at first, but under a loupe you will see tiny little scratches all going the same direction, and metal builds up where the elevation changes, like near devices.

Cleaning? Good gosh, too many topics to cover. Main thing is to look at a LOT of coins. Most of us here have seen millions, (literally). Learn to see what a coin of that age and metal should look like. That is the first part. 80 year old silver coins should not be as bright silver as the day they were struck. 80 year old copper will not be shiny red. THen there are marks, and all other topics. Try searching this site for "cleaned" and read a lot of the good stuff contributors here have written.

 

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I'm glad you guys are on station tonite to answer questions because I'm schnitzel......not that I could do it though......better man than I, Gunga Din.

 

Welllll...I'm not that old. I meant when NGC was still a baby.

 

Ouch he likes the Flyers not good not good!!

 

Thanks Medorman that gives me a good start I will continue to look at coins to help get better at both scenarios. The whizzing seems easier but I don't know if I could tell an improperly cleaned coin if it bite me in the arm

 

Don't get discouraged @Ollyoccia. I've personally seen new collectors "pick-up" on cleaning, whizzing, and altered surfaces in 2-day seminars. All it takes is a good teacher and some examples. In my experience, virtually everyone in the class can learn to detect whizzing in less than ten minutes! NOTE: I'm NOT going to discuss/defend this OBSERVABLE FACT with anyone. Take a grading seminar and see for yourself.

However, SuperDave is correct that learning the ropes is usually a very long process. Unfortunately, in my experience many dealers/collectors never learn! DITTO the above note.

Now, the most important "start" is to learn what original coins look like. look at the UNTONED coins in slabs. By "looking" I mean really examining them closely. Learn the color of natural coins and what original mint luster looks like. You'll be off to a great start.

 

Here are a couple coins I submitted and was surprised by the results. Can you assist me with what I missed? The first is a 1987 Great Britain 25 Pounds Gold Coin. It seems to be well struck. I see one very small knick on the front and one small knick on the back. The second coin the 1914 has a few scratches on the front and back as well....Thanks

 

The answer to your original question is that it depends on the series. For Jefferson Nickels, PCGS is almost a full grade more conservative in their grading. Some series are pretty equal like Morgans and then there are a few that NGC is tougher. That said, NGC is much tougher with respect to all strike designations, eg. FB, FBL, FS, FH etc.

Btw, here is an example of a whizzed coin.



Note that there are areas of the coin that were not whizzed. Compare the difference between the two types of surfaces. In hand, the simulated luster from the whizzing looks odd and out of place and does not at all look like the typical cartwheel luster you see on problem free coins.

 

@Lehigh96 It might be very helpful if you would point out the areas not whizzed for us.

 

IMO, the highest grade on the Indian which appears to have full details is MS-61 or 62. That's because the coin has friction wear. Note the dark field under "United." The photo of the British coin is taken in the wrong orientation with the light so its surface is too washed out to comment on.

When examining or photographing coins they need to be tipped and rotated to see them properly.

 

The $5 looks as tho it may have been cleaned. At least the obverse and possibly the upper right of the reverse. Also with the luster breaks I'm seeing on the reverse I'd call it au-58

 

I've been trying the big three for grading my type sets. I have found that PCGS has been hard on pre 1933 gold and early US toned coins. I'm currently using NGC for my US type set and ANACS for my Mexico type set.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you can't tell that from the photo then you should probably stick to just buying graded coins.

 

YES!!!!! EXACTLY!!!!!

 

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Here we go again.... Simple question in the interest of education (especially for the OP as medoraman did) and what all of us here got was this:

Note to @Cascade & @ldhair: See what happens when I try to "post" nice.

Plus, an unanswered question. So I'll ask it again, hoping for a reply: ]@Lehigh96 It might be very helpful if you would point out the areas not whizzed for us.

I understand that uninformed collectors such as myself should only buy slabs; but I was looking for more. Apparently, someone here did take my request for education wrong but it was not me. Nice going.

 

It does take looking at thousands of coins , but a good rule of thumb is if it looks even a little funny to you , chances are something is wrong with the coin . But the easiest thing to look for are hairlines or impaired luster . Still go to the Auctions like Heritage , it's free and the pics are adequate to tell . Look at detailed coins and compare them to known straight graded coins . Though being straight graded doesn't mean they haven't been cleaned , they are at least market acceptable . Also look up old threads on cleaned coins as the others have said .

 

Excuse my ignorance as well, Paul, but I blew your coin up 500 % and I'm not seeing the movement of metal.

 

@@Lehigh96 It might be very helpful if you would point out the areas not whizzed for us.

Still waiting. The coin is obviously whizzed. I want you to tell me where to look for the areas that are not.

 

The coin IS whizzed. Best seen by the unusual luster in the small photo.

Although the raised metal is not very visible, note that all the marks on the coin are the same color.

 

Surfaces give it away as whizzed or harshly cleaned. The signs of whizzing obvious at around 5 o clock and on the neck