The very best way is to spend the time to learn to grade yourself and grade your own coins, for a collector that has no intention of selling anytime soon this is the very best and cheapest method.
If you want your coins graded by a TPG then you either join PCGS and submit your coins with the appropriate amount of money for them to grade them for you.
You use anacs and submit your coins with the right amount of money for them to grade your coins for you.
I personally like grading my own coins and I always advise everyone new collector or seasoned to grade their own coins, it has a real benefit to the hobby and to the collectors as a whole.
TPG's have bred a whole generations of fast food coin collectors IMHO.
The only thing TPG's are good for in reality is to certify the coin is real and not fake and then only if there is a real question about authenticity.
The easiest way in my opinion is to send them in yourself.
If you join PCGS the platinum membership is a good deal and does save you money with the 8 free gradings. Depending on what you collect I would recommend using them for pre 1965 coins to get the most bang for your buck.
I have a local coin shop that does bulk submissions for themselves and their customers. It at times is not the fastest way, because they wait until they have a bunch to send in. Sometimes it is weeks before they make submissions, but patience is rewarded with a cheaper, no hassle submission.
I recommend looking at graded raw coins in well-known dealers preferably in person but pictures in lists and online will do and using well accepted grading guides like the ANA Grading Standards for US coins or the Standard Guide to Grading British Coins by DF Allen.
It's easier to compare raw coins because folders can hide detail and defects.
If you look at enough coins eventually you'll know what a F, VF, EF, MS coin looks like.
Almost everybody has different experiences and different opinions, though if you get several opinions there'll probably be a consensus.
If you've never seen a particular coin before, it can be very difficult to know how to grade it without seeing published opinions.
Quote: The collective opinions on most coins submitted on here, are probably more spot on than any TPG, where it's generally the opinion of one.
....which illustrates Metalman's original words. Do not submit a coin to a TPG until you know what they will (or should) grade it based on your own opinion. That's what this hobby is about.
It depends why you want it graded in my opinion. If it is only one or two coins a year simply sending to ANACS is better and so much less expensive. If you plan on selling large amounts of Coins as a small business then you should join PCGS. PCGS coin holders are more desirable and you can write off their high cost as a business expense I suppose.
But either one, you mail in your coins with a filled out submission form and your credit card number. They get mailed back to you after a few weeks.
Your coins journey through a TPG (NGC in this video)
1. Go to a Coin show if there are any in your area. Ask dealers if they would do it for you and how much they would charge if they do. 2. Go to a local coin store and do the same as above. 3. Send all your coins to me and forget about having them graded at all and save all that money. 4. I've never had a coin graded. I never plan on selling coins so makes no difference if I call one a G, EF-40, MS-95, etc. They are all mine so makes no difference.
just carl, Re 4; Just because you don't plan to sell doesn't mean you don't need to understand values If you didn't know how to grade: Would you be happy to pay over the odds for an overgraded coin ?
Do you live in an area where the chances of your collection being stolen or destroyed by flood or fire are zero. Insurance companies don't pay out for inexpertly valued collections.
Also, what happens to your coin collection when you die ? Do your heirs inherit a collection that you've told them is worth $20,000 but they find out is actually worth $1,000 ?
Right from the very start, I have always graded my own coins. Ancients, hammered, milled and machine made coins, you name it. The grading standards for each of these categories are very different.
Occasionally, others have disagreed with my opinion, when a picture of a coin is posted for grading. That's OK. If I am wrong, I learn. If someone disagrees with me, and they are wrong, they learn.
The good thing about it is: most of us learn. Published photos in books of coins of standard grades are also a very useful tool for learning.
So just keep on posting pictures of your coins for grading!
I belong to ngc. It really doesn't cost too much to join and I think (I'll have to look closer) but I believe I can submit to the currency side and maybe even comic books. Really the only reason I joined initially was the fact that I had an expensive coin I wanted to grade/slab. Anacs is fairly inexpensive and you don't have to join, I'm just unsure of their submission policy.
Quote: ....which illustrates Metalman's original words. Do not submit a coin to a TPG until you know what they will (or should) grade it based on your own opinion. That's what this hobby is about.
I have found the PCGS Photograde Application to be an incredible help in grading. I have it loaded on my iPad. The quality of the images (3d Gen iPad) and the portability make grading (almost) a no-brainer. There is ALWAYS going to be the human dynamic of grading, but Photograde will help de-conflict grading emotion from reality. Oh... it's free to download and use.
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Posted 04/13/2013 3:01 pm
