coin grading

[fiddle-fart]

I've been looking some of the post and coin grading comes up.
my silly question is

what is it and where do you send it?
how many grading co. are thier?
the best / the worst?
the cost of such?
and any other questions I might need to know

Thanks
Mike

[Bob P]

Mike,
There are many coin grading services out there, and there are only a few that are reputable enough (in my opinion), to warrant sending your coins to. They are PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service), ANACS, and NGC. I have listed some links below for you to read up on them. Basically, they are called Third Party Grading Services, and they are mainly used to authenticate coins, and grade them based on their professional criteria.

ANACS: http://www.anacs.com

PCGS: http://pcgs.com/

NGC: http://www.ngccoin.com/

[fiddle-fart]

That is a whole lot of info!!!!!!
Thanks Bob!!!!

[eagames]

The value of grading......

Some people hate graded coins in holders.

The downside to getting them graded is some come back low grade and some come back in a body bag saying it has a problem like it was cleaned damaged or messed with. ANACs will still holder it but note the problem. (NGC wont, PCGS will for an extra $100) Sometimes you send a coin then you realize it was a $1 coin in a $15 holder so be sure to only send coins that are gradable and worth grading.

The upside to getting some coins graded to me is that copper is tricky and until you can easily tell when a coin was messed with you take a risk if you buy anything ungraded, graded coins HELP to avoid this. For example I was looking at some old cents I got back in the 70s. Since then I know a lot more. Today I can see that some of them were recolored or cleaned and were a rip off! If a person collects/buys raw coins for a long time before ever sending a few for grading to test your skills then someday might find out that most of them were bad deals so for me it's a reality check. Also it's not easy to sell an ungraded rare coin but NGC, ANACS or PCGS graded coins are easier to sell and it allows you to look at others of the same coin, same grade, same grading company so you can see what the market price realy is.

There are many junk companies that grade anything high but nobody believes their grades. Also EBAY only allows coins to be listed as certified if they were done by those big TPGs. Auction houses also only accept coins graded by the big TPGs, the reason is those companies will buy the coin back if it was attributed or graded wrong. The others are mostly only giving opinions with no guarantee.

[fiddle-fart]

I can see that I'm going to get real old before I can get this and that straight.
And I appreciate all the help I can get

Thanks eagames

Mike

[coppercoins]

Basic statement that always holds true:

If the coin isn't worth at least $50, it's not worth sending into one of the major services to have it holdered. Reason being, the cost of the slab with insurance and shipping chews up $30 per coin on average, and if the coin is worth less than $50, you end up with a holder that's worth more than the coin inside.

If there's a chance that the coin might be a grade that would make it worth over $50, then it's worth the chance.

If the coin is definitely worth over $50, then it's worth the slab.

If the coin is an error or variety, PLEASE check in with someone who really knows what they are doing before sending the coin in expecting it to come back in a holder annotating the variety. MANY of the companies have odd rules about what they will and won't slab, and what die numbers they will or will not recognize. If you find a minor RPM and think you're going to get NGC or PCGS to put it in a holder noting the RPM, you're mistaken...but you wouldn't know that until you wasted your money with them to find out...unless you come here and we can tell you that before hand and save you the effort and cash.

[carlb]

If you want to really get confused sometime, go to Google and type in Coin Grading Services. You will get about 293,000 possible sites. Imagine spending a few minutes checking each one.