Pcgs and their new policy on world coins older than 1955

[geejay50 10]

Hello all,

 

PCGS has notified me that as per a decision made at the end of 2011, all World coins older than 1955 will be graded according to the Secure Plus Service.

 

This Sevice carries new technology in recording a thumbprint electronically of each coin graded with probable antiforgery implications.

 

 

Unfortunately this comes with an added grading cost of $45 per coin for Regular Tier (Old price $30).

 

The Secure Plus technology is displayed by a Badge in the top left part of the Capsule (see pic)

 

 

Geejay

 

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[jwither 16]

I have never submitted any coins to PCGS, only bought them after grading. I think this is a bad marketing move on their part. They already lag NGC substantially in world coin grading and if I understand this change correctly, this should result in them losing basically all coins that are of a "nominal" value.

 

I do not see that the coin market is "demanding" this change and I do not see that it is necessary for their authenticity guarantee either. Personally, i do not believe that most world coins are counterfeited at this time and I do not see that it will change either. Most of them are too obscure or they are not valuable enough to make it worth the bother of counterfeiting both the coin and the slab.

[geejay50 10]

Hi Ernesto,

 

I agree with you that this is not a good move by PCGS. They are already the less popular company in terms of grading in South Africa compared to NGC and this added price will make them even less so.

 

The South African coins graded by PCGS will get less so as NGC tries to attract them away with their new cross over policy (only with PCGS slabbed coins) where the submitter is only charged if the cross over is successful. If not successful , he only pays $5 as an inspection fee along with an $8 fee per invoice.

 

Georg

[geejay50 10]

Hello all,

 

I am not here to promote PCGS but having just received some coins back from them, I noticed that their coins now have their faults stated along with the rough grade of the coin instead of just a code that needed to be checked from their website. Please see the pic.This at least is an improvement and is exactly what NGC does. The coin shown is a magnificent coin and a good example of a very high grade Unc - there is lustre even on the shoulder around the O.S. !!.

 

They claim also to to have magnified the image of the coin using Laser technology and hold a record thereof on their Secure Plus directory so that any future alteration will be noticed. Take this or leave it as an advantage.

 

The extra $15 cost for high end coins may be worth it but for lower end coins it may be just too much to pay for grading ($45 total) when you can get cheaper grading by another company like NGC with also an International Population Report.

 

Times are tough and we also get charged 14% VAT on the grading service rendered on reimportation of the coins along with courier fees so the overall cost is significant .

 

One nice thing about PCGS too is that they always inform you when the coins get there and when they are graded so you dont have to regularly search the website like NGC for grading results.Their turnaround for Regular is quite a lot faster than NGC although this seems to depend on work load in the case of NGC who at the moment are slower than the 21 working days stated on the website ( I have had a parcel at both companies that arrived there on the same day albeit on different sides of the USA and am still awaiting results in the case of NGC).

 

PCGS also does not offer a conservation service like NCS alongside NGC - this is extremely useful especially in the case of copper.

 

Some of you may have noticed that since recently, the PCGS pop report has undergone long awaited improvement as regards South African Coins and their categorisation. This is welcomed compared to the haphazard add ons before.

 

My ten cents worth.

 

Geejay

 

Edited July 20, 2012 by geejay50