one thing I have noticed about the 2 graders pictures... PCGS trueview pics always good enough to get a good idea of the grade of the coin... with NGC it seems they take the basic slab shot in a lighting that often give a pic looking nothing like the coin in hand. in this case my new IHC is a good example, you can see it is the same coin from the sellers pic but the NGC picture is flat, even colored and the focus of the pic is the slab not the coin... I've seen this a few times now, i just can't understand against the level of competition PCGS give NGC why such 2nd rate coin pics?... NGCs pic of my new IHC beside the sellers pics.. and I post an "honest" pic when the coin arrives as well.. seller NGC photo
The NGC ones are just supposed to be holder verification. The PCGS ones started as a premium service and to some extent still is but now all of the service levels besides modern, and US economy have those pictures. NGC has a similar higher quality picture service but last I checked it was more expensive and they would be wise to up the quality on the standard pictures with PCGS moving to have the trueviews on everything.
NGC's full-slab cert page images certainly stink most of the time (though they're better than nothing). However, their (paid, premium) PhotoVision images seem to be every bit as good as PCGS Trueviews. I only recently discovered this. (Just never use their cheaper paid image option if you're submitting. "Internet Imaged", I think that's called. Those are trash. I could've done better with my old flatbed scanner.) I was pleased with the NGC Photovision pictures on these.
Ahh didn't know NGC had a higher level of imaging service... that makes a bit more sence then... just seemed wrong to me they were so far behind PCGS
NGC full slab shots are not intended to be glamour shots of the coin. They are taken for authentication and encapsulation purposes, not to use for auctions nor for assessing a coin on grade or luster, etc. PCGS TrueView photos can be good, or absolutely awful and cartoonish. A lot depends on the coin photographed. The paid NGC coin professional coin images are superb and usually very true to a coin’s look in hand.
PCGS just happens to put the TrueView images on the cert pages (if one happens to exist for that coin). NGC doesn't do this with the Photovision images. If you look at the cert pages for the coins I posted above, you'll just see the lower-quality full-slab pictures on there. https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/5770260-001/NGCAncients/ https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/5770260-002/NGCAncients/ https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/5770260-003/NGCAncients/ https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/5770260-005/NGCAncients/ https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/5770260-006/NGCAncients/
As @brg5658 mentioned, the slab images on the NGC cert pages are there for verification more than glamor. I do think that is useful. While I like the PCGS TrueViews (mostly), I do sometimes wish they included a full-slab picture and the TrueView. PCGS Europe (and maybe their branch in China, too?) uses full-slab images on their cert pages, like below. I don't think these are as good as the US-style TrueViews, but then again, they show the slab, which is important. Again, I wish there was both on the cert pages- the slab shot and the hi-res coin shot. But I know that would be asking a bit too much. https://www.pcgs.com/cert/83818887
All of the international offices do that on everything. I like the trueviews better as well, but Internationally I can understand the brand value of showing the whole thing
I like the NGC photovision and PCGS true view but I do appreciate the full slab shot for authentication reasons. If someone posts a NGC coin with pics, I like to take the serial number and just make sure its a legit coin vs one where they replaced it with a fake or a lower end one, this is useful when buying.
I've noticed that NGC will take high res shots of submitted coins if they want to use the image to represent the type in their census. I've had that happen for maybe a dozen coins I submitted, but you have to go check it yourself. They never tell you when they do this.
The quality of NGC‘s standard pictures has increased dramatically in recent years. Same coin, old OBV picture from a couple of years ago, new REV picture after sending it to NGC for reimaging service last year: Note: This G$1 is CAC approved, that’s why I agreed to keep the previous OBV picture in the certification lookup in order to keep the sticker. Anybody who has ever tried to take pictures of those tiny gold coins knows that it’s quite hard.
