PCI Grading Service - Opinions?

Anyone have any thoughts or opinions of PCI?

A friend has several Morgans, all PCI graded. Looking at a random sampling of about 20 coins, 10 looked about right, 8 looked over-graded and 2 actually looked under rated!

Just wondering what you all think of the service?

Thanks

 

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I think it depends. Occasionally I agree with their grade. Unfortunately I frequently see cleaned, damaged, scratched, waxed, hazed etc coins in their holders. Very rarely do I see coins I feel are correctly or undergraded with the exception of the older 10 digit green holders.

 

PCI is all over the place with it's grading , mostly overgraded , some correctly graded and once in a while a few undergraded. The good thing is that you almost always pay for a PCI coin at 1, 2 or 3 grades lower than what's on the slab. If you are a bargain hunter keep a close eye on some of the auctions , you might get a great deal. It's always a chance you take without actually seeing the coin in hand , so be smart and patient , or if you like the slab names PCGS or NGC go ahead and lay out the bucks up front. Buying the coin and not the holder isn't as easy as it seems , especially when buying online. I'll throw ICG in the same boat as PCI. They aren't worth the extra money for the grade. Look at Teletrade and Heritage and you will see the poor sales results for ICG graded coins. I see alot of people touting ICG's grading but the bottom line prices speak for themselves. Sorry ICG .

 

When it comes to TPGs and the marketplace, my opinion has little weight compared to Market Perception.

And it seems clear that it boils down to this :

• PCGS and NGC dominate - they are the de facto standards.
• ANACS and ICG are OK, but clearly second tier.
• All others - forget 'em.

I haven't seen enough non-PCGS/NGC slabs to know. But it doesn't matter.

The marketplace has spoken.

And that marketplace has a lot of guys with a whole lot more experience than I.

 

Exactly. It might not be fair; I don't know, but ICG might be a great grading company. Maybe the best; I don't know.

But my opinion doesn't matter. ICG sells for less (so does ANACS), and third-tier TPGs aren't even allowed on major auctions. I can talk the paint off the walls and it won't change anything. Market perception dominates.

Vincent is right... the most important thing is to get good at grading and alteration detection. Then buy the coin, not the slab.

And if you got a good deal on an ICG coin, re-submit to PCGS / NGC and get it in a market-friendly slab.

Avoid NTC and NNC like the plague.

 

I have some very nice pci specimens in my collection, but I subscribe to the buy the coin theory, which has served me well over the years

 

As long as there are people who belive this, there is always a chance to get some good deals as long as you can grade reasonably well.

SGS slab, I could not in good conscious buy, because of their apparent crooked business practices.

PCI, INB, UGS adn the like, I will give a look at because they are NOT well known, not top tier, and are often over looked. I have gotten some pretty decent deals on one of these companies, mostly because they are not PCGS and NGC. Did a cross over of a few with free submissions, and they came back spot on.

Moral of the story, learn how to grade, then look in places left behind by other dealers and collectors.

 

Very well put!!

Buy the coin not the slab is the best advice I've heard yet. Becoming an expert (study) before you buy, is the only way to know what grades are accurate , and why.

I do not like slabbed coins. I do love to get a good coin cheap if only because it was graded by a low tier service. PCGS and NGC are not going to get my money just to tell me something I should know, eventually, someday, maybe.

 

If you are good at grading you can find bargains in PCI slabs, I have purchased a couple of PCI coins that where slabbed MS-64, paid MS-60 for them, and had them cross into NGC holders at MS64.. sold for a profit.

To a lot of people just being in a PCI slab knocks them down several grades, regardless of the actual coin... hard to do this with good dealers, but the vest-pocket slab only guys are easy to work (they don't usually know how to grade, they just go by the slab)

 

Are the coins in the newer Gold label holders or the older Green label holders? I personally don't touch the Gold labels, but there are bargains to be found in the Green label slabs. Of course you must inspect the coin itself, but I have had great success crossing and upgrading the Green PCI slabs to PCGS.

 

AN OPINION
http://reviews.ebay.com/NNC-NCGS-and-TRUGRADE-JUNK-coin-grading-services_W0QQugidZ10000000001328446

 

My opinion as a full time dealer is...PCGS & NGC are salable...little else is. ICG is admired by some dealers and collectors alike, but in my experience ICG coins are the kiss of death...impossible to sell at anywhere near prices that PCGS & NGC bring. That puts them in the same tier with NTC, NNC TRUGRADE, etc. PCI and ANACS are much easier to sell.
Hope this info helps some.
tradernick

 

I tend to have mixed feelings about PCI. The older Green Label holders tend to be very conservative and accurately graded. Some of their later green label holders are conservative in most grades, but not very strict for grades over 65, moderns, and cameo designations. The gold labels tend to be all over the place from my experience. I have seen cleaned and damaged coins in holders, coin that were overgraded by several grades, and even some coins that were accurately graded......inconsistent to say the least.

It seemed to me that the PCI material in the gold holders of the past year became more strictly graded. After noticing more dealers carrying PCI coins about a year ago, I decided to send some Morgans in for a $6 each special. I was surprised. They were fairly strict. Several of the coins I sent were common 64s that I picked up cheap, and PCI graded them exactly 64....no gift overgrade 65s. Two definite 64 coins were also put in 63 holders!!

I tend to try to find deals if I can find older PCI green holders.....otherwise, I tend to make sure I can see the coin in hand. I do think that with some of their graders like Stanton, Snow, etc, that they will probably continue to get better and get more respect in the marketplace........nowhere near NGC and PCGS, but maybe closer to ICG.

 

In case you didn't read far enough, here's a portion of information at Airedale's link that directly responds to this thread:

Absolutely correct IMHO.

 

The old green label theory is trash. Buy all of these green label treasures for $100. They are all 70's and so spotty! Of course the " gods of grading " must be experiencing this same phonemium right now too.

 

Gratuitous, irrelevant and inappropriate matter deleted to conform to forum rules

 

I agree that all PCI green labels are not quality holders. The green holders that were used to grade state quarters are the more recent ones. For moderns, proofs, high end MS, and cameo attributions, this generation of green holders is not accuate at all.

The green labels I find to be accurate are the old ones with the 10 digit serial numbers. These were used before PCI changed ownership. I have had two different Morgans that were graded 64PQ in these holders upgrade a point at NGC to 65.

 

The only PCI graded coins I have are in the old green holders. I'm pretty happy with the grading and the price I paid for them; and I would buy more of the same if the opportunity presented itself. I think there are some bargains to be found in PCI green holders and the old ANACS holders, but that is just my opinion.