I collect mostly world coins and would like to slab some. My goals are so that if something ever happened to me it would be some help to my wife in selling them if she chose to. I am leaning mostly towards ICG at this time but am considering ANACS and NGC as well... My main goals are verification of authenticity, aprox. grade, and cheapest price. I do not have many valuable coins, the few I would wish to slab are only worth between $100 and at most $500.
Well maybe this'll help. With ICG you could go with the Economy service, with all your coins being valued $500, with no coin minimum or maximum for $12 a coin. Your return shipping options consist of UPS Ground with a charge of $24, or USPS Registered Mail with charges that can exceed $24. Then of course add on the shipping you will pay to get the coins shipped out. With ANACS you will pay $19 a coin for the Economy service, with the maximum coin value being at $500 per coin. With this there is a 5 coin minimum. For return shipping, lets say you send in 1-5 coins, and the value is between $101-$1000, you add an additional $20. If it is 6-20 coins it would be $25 with the value being between $101-$1000. In addition to that include how much it costs you to ship the coins. With NGC you could go with the Value service. It costs you $19 a coin, and all coins must be valued less than $300 with a 5 coin minimum. You have to be a member of NGC's Collector's Society (paid subscription) or an ANA member to submit. I can't find any shipping prices on their website though. Really, IMO, with world coins, it isn't as important as a resale factor of who graded it, or at least not near as much as compared to U.S. coins. I would go with ICG, they should have everything you're looking for, and the grades shouldn't be that far off of what another company may give them.
Thank you T$ for your advice, it is exactly what I was feeling... it was just driving me a little crazy over thinking it because so many people swear by PCGS or NGC and People say ANACS moved so they aren't reliable and that ICG is 4th runner up to the others.. it just gets a bit confusing!
Ya' know it really can. The way I look at it is this, you really aren't looking for resale factor here. I mean technically you are, but I think it would make more sense to save a bit of money here, and have them properly indetified and authenticated by ICG, and if anything were to happen your wife would have all the answers she needs right on the slab. Sure the grade might not be the most reliable, may be a tad high, or low, it could help you in the long run if it is a tad high though. I wouldn't worry about using PCGS in this situation, or ANACS. I think you can go good with ICG, but if you want to feel really confident in the grade on the holder you could always go with NGC. I would still go with ICG though.
I really am spot on to your way of thinking, Ultimately I really think I am going to go with ICG for my needs and I do thank you for your advice.. I really can not go wrong with the $12 submission!!!
