Population Reports & Slab Dates

cinque1543

Question 1: To estimate how many coins exist at a certain grade (for example, 1941-S Walking Liberty half dollars graded at MS63), I assume it is necessary to review the PCGS, NGC and other population reports, and manually add up the population counts. Or is there a resource that offers an aggregated report?

Question 2: When you enter a PCGS cert number on the PCGS site, an ICG cert number on the ICG site, etc, the date that the coin was graded and slabbed does not appear. Is there a reason why TPG's do not share the date that a coin was graded?

winesteven

Answer 1. In general, yes, you have to go to each site and add them up. Most (many?) serious collectors only consider the pops of PCGS and NGC, and add those together. Some will also consider the pops of those graded by CACG. Keep in mind those pops are only roughly accurate, as some coins get cracked out and then sent back in raw, and some coins get crossed from NGC to PCGS. In those cases, typically the pop from where it originated does not get reduced, so that increases the pop numbers falsely. For coins being auctioned by Heritage and Stacks, those listings “do the work for you”, as they show the PCGS and NGC pop numbers separately, and then the overall total of those two combined. They also show the CAC sticker pop.

Answer 2. Some coins in slabs get sent back to the original grading company for Reconsideration, reholdering, Variety Attribution, etc., so that could confuse things. However, with that said, there’s research information identifying when certain types of holders were used, and the estimated cert number ranges used for each of those holders. So you can’t just go by the cert number, since when a coin is reholdered for ANY reason, it will retain the original cert number, but be placed in the newest style/version holder. But if you research and learn the characteristics of the various holders along with the date range of original cert numbers used for them, then you can get a much more accurate sense of when that coin was graded. This can be important, since the use of plus grades by PCGS and NGC started only about 15 years ago or so. So if you see a coin in a holder that’s older than that, and it looks great for the grade, maybe you have an increased chance of getting a plus grade via Reconsideration or Regrade. I never suggest cracking a coin out, even though some smart people do just that.

I hope you found this helpful!

Steve

cinque1543

@winesteven said:
Answer 1. In general, yes, you have to go to each site and add them up. Most (many?) serious collectors only consider the pops of PCGS and NGC, and add those together. Some will also consider the pops of those graded by CACG. Keep in mind those pops are only roughly accurate, as some coins get cracked out and then sent back in raw, and some coins get crossed from NGC to PCGS. In those cases, typically the pop from where it originated does not get reduced, so that increases the pop numbers falsely. For coins being auctioned by Heritage and Stacks, those listings “do the work for you”, as they show the PCGS and NGC pop numbers separately, and then the overall total of those two combined. They also show the CAC sticker pop.

Answer 2. Some coins in slabs get sent back to the original grading company for Reconsideration, reholdering, Variety Attribution, etc., so that could confuse things. However, with that said, there’s research information identifying when certain types of holders were used, and the estimated cert number ranges used for each of those holders. So you can’t just go by the cert number, since when a coin is reholdered for ANY reason, it will retain the original cert number, but be placed in the newest style/version holder. But if you research and learn the characteristics of the various holders along with the date range of original cert numbers used for them, then you can get a much more accurate sense of when that coin was graded. This can be important, since the use of plus grades by PCGS and NGC started only about 15 years ago or so. So if you see a coin in a holder that’s older than that, and it looks great for the grade, maybe you have an increased chance of getting a plus grade via Reconsideration or Regrade. I never suggest cracking a coin out, even though some smart people do just that.

I hope you found this helpful!

Steve

Re Answer 1: Thank you. Very clear. I hadn't thought about the bolded sentence, but now that you point it out, it makes sense.

Re Answer 2: I've started looking at the PCGS "Museum of Coin Holders" to familiarize myself on the different varieties. Thank you for your advice on that. I'm still a bit confused though. For a coin that is still in a holder (with a cert number and a bar code), PCGS and NGC must know the date they put that coin into the holder. Yet they choose not to share this information. Other than saying it's "company policy", I wonder if there is a good reason for not sharing it?

winesteven

Other than what I mentioned, and "Company Policy", lol, I'm not aware of another reason.

Steve