Most trusted grading service?

I have several gold coins and have wanted to have them graded but always had visions of my coins getting lost in the mail or not returned. How safe and who is the most reliable service to work with? Which service is considered the best? Reasonable pricing, turn around time, and easiest to deal with. Thanks in advance.

 

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I asked a similar question a while back.
Here's a link to that thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/which-grading-company-have-you-used.400926/

 

This has long been a loaded question, depending on who you talk to. Best price-ANACS, decent turnaround time. But if you plan on selling soon, you would likely get less on your sale as they are 3rd in the pecking order. Best return when time to sell-PCGS or NGC. But they also are the most expensive. Turn around varies. Use registered mail when sending your coins. This is expensive but you are covered by the USPS. Hope this helps. And remember, this is just my opinion. Others may disagree.

 

thanks for the heads up! Interesting replies. Looks like gold coins would do best at pcga and less expensive coin to Anacs or icg

Thanks for your opinion! You’re probably right!

 

Letters matter. PGCS is the one you are thinking of. PCGA is a garbage grader using the old NumisTrust slab.

 

It is a 2 subject question-mailing (and I do not have any opinion that helps in that regard) and GOLD Grading.

The only Service that I would use for Gold is CAC. I hesitate to mention CACG, because the Jury is still out, but if you are a CAC member, or have a CAC member that will facilitate the Submittal to CAC for you, that is the 4PG to obtain a very knowledgeable evaluation. Trusts is fine and can apply to any recognized TPG.

With Gold, the goal for the collectors should be a review by the most knowledgeable person. That would be JA.

I wish you well, and you have chosen a very difficult undertaking on collecting Gold pieces.

Truth in editing: removed an extra "the".

 

what scare me is the turn around time on grading. I’m sure most grading service outfits do a decent job grading but waiting months for coins to come back is nerve wracking. I guess insurance is important. As for NumisTrust slab? Please explain. Tks

 

thanks, I’ll look into it.

 

What a load of bunk.

CAC is not a grading service. Rather they review already encapsulated coins from PCGS and NGC.

They never actually handle the raw coin and their review is limited to whether they agree with the grade. A coin they feel is solid for the grade gets a green sticker. A coin they feel is solid at the next grade higher gets a gold sticker.

By solid they mean if you divide coins into three tranches at a given grade... C = just barely. B = correct and A = better, but not quite the next grade higher. Solid are the As and Bs.


CACG is their recently introduced grading service. CACG only grades A and B coins. A C coin would be assigned the lower grade, i.e. a "C" MS63 at PCGS or NGC woulf be an "A" MS62 at CACG.

(note that the A/B/C is not disclosed)

Also yes, PCGS and NGC may assign + grades such as MS63+ (their way of saying it's a whisker below an MS64 but nice MS63). CAC ignores +.

 

If you are close to an area that is having a large coin show, you can actually drop the coins off yourself at booths set up for acceptance. I'm not sure if you can pick them up before the end of the show. BTW, if you have "collector" coins which have a premium due to scarcity, PCGS and NGC would probably be best, if mostly bullion coins, ICG would be just as good for authenticity.

 

Again....CAC.

 

Thank you. It may be helpful for you to review what I stated.....CAC is a 4PG. I suspect you are not familar with the designation.
The emerging CACG will be a TPG-Third Party Grading.

As to the rest of the commentary, some aspects are correct, many are not. A slight example- CACG will not be limited to A and B CAC categories, at all. That is false. CACG will not have a green or gold application. The non-disclosure is another comment that is incorrect, as it applies to CACG.

It may be helpful, again, for your to visit the CAC Forum, where every comment you posted can be confirmed or denied.

It would also be important to mention you left out another category...D coins.

The + is NOT ignored. Read the CAC Forum.

I have noticed on occasion your propensity to be less than enthusiastic concerning CAC. I can understand a person has that opinion, and it may be for many reasons.

However, I commented to the OP enquiry concerning Gold coins. Read what I stated.

If you are confident that you personally can evaluate Gold coins on par with or exceeding JA, and can prove it, I will be the first to advise JA to bring you on Board before somebody else grabs you, and I will definitely refer some of the owners of the most superb Gold collections in the numismatic world to consult you. Better yet, most participate on the CAC Forum, inclusive of the #1 and # 2 and # 3 Registered Sets...incidentally consisting of most and in one instance all CAC reviewed pieces.

Bunk is an interesting choice of description. Maybe try baloney next time.

Truth in editing: added a "t" where appropriate.

 

I've only dealt with NGC for grading, but I assume PCGS has grading tiers as well. Essentially, the faster you want your coins back, the more you have to pay. I have submitted under the economy only ( the cheapest and slowest method). My last submission went quite quickly. From mailing to return was under two months.

As far as grading gold is concerned, I do see much more gold being sold and traded on Instagram in PCGS holders than NGC.

 

For me, it's PCGS for U.S. coins and NGC for tokens and foreign and ancient coins.

 

That's a fairly common view, with ANACS for varieties (they simply certify more of them from more sources). And ICG for contemporary counterfeits (they're the only service doing these).

 

Thousands of people have come before you and waited the months. Just ship it and forget about it. Maybe ship half one year and half another time? I've never used PCGS but have sent a decent amount of stuff through NGC over the years.

Your biggest concern is getting it there. It sounds like the shipping companies, especially USPS is getting sketchier as time goes on. I always breathed a sigh of relief once I saw NGC had accepted the package because I trusted that nothing would be lost once it was there. Has it happened? Yes. On rare occasion but nearly impossible. Far more chance of something getting lost in shipping process.
As someone else stated, NGC and PCGS both go to the big shows and sometimes grade on site if there's one near you or if you're willing to travel. Have to keep an eye open for the events. Sometimes they are there but do NOT offer on site grading. Sometimes they just accept orders that they take back with them.

Both companies have graded rarities in the millions. It's easy to over-think this.

 

Thanks to all! Great advice. I’ll give PCGS a try but will only send in a couple coins and see how it goes. TKS again.

 

I'd just take good care of them. If you want a grade, let's see them. When you submit all you're getting is an endorsement on the grade for their market and regarding that grade the only difference between theirs and ours is they have it in hand provided you're fortunate and it gets there in the mail and you can minimize that discrepancy between their grade and ours with the better the pictures you get us. I'd be sitting on pins and needles waiting to see whether my gold comes back; in fact, whether it gets there, even. And another thing is the precious metals market or bullion value is still running well ahead of any numismatic value any of their grades might bless them with, meaning you're not getting any monetary advantage, there. But, you insist, there's, in a nut, where you are.

 

eddie, I’ll take some photos later. Besides coins, football needs my attention. Lol tks