PCGS vs NGC

lincolnSence

Hi David and thanks for answering. My question is specific to Lincoln cents. Why is there a full point difference between the grades given by each service (PCGS being one grade stricter)? This doesn't appear to be a concern in the other series. Is it just related to the copper guaranty? I believe the guaranty (while its a great thing) was probably far far over estimated in terms of actual impact to your financials than it has been in practice. Could you also shed some light on the annual cost of the guaranty (say 2002 actuals) and confirm or deny that this has anything to do with the differences in grading. Thanks.

homerunhall

We truthfully grade the coins and don't think too much about the other grading services' standards...though I do believe they probably think about where they stand vs. the PCGS standards and they probably adjust their grading standards to the point where they will make the most money. Frankly, the strategy that would seem to make sense for other grading services would be to be somewhat looser than PCGS. If the other services were as conservative as PCGS it doesn't seem to me that there would be a reason for anyone to use the other services as PCGS coins are worth more grade to grade.

With all that in mind, i.e. knowing that other services may move there standards to a certain position vs. PCGS standards, our best strategy, i.e. the strategy that makes us the most money both long and short term, is to grade as consistently as possible according to the PCGS grading standards and not worry about other services.

We grade Lincolns according to our published standards. We haven't tighten those standards. The other services may be looser, I don't know. But we're not going to move our standards no matter what anyone else does.

All of this has nothing to do with the grading guarantee. Hwether we're tighter or looser than other services doesn't effect our guarantee. The number of mistakes WE MAKE is what we pay on...a mistake being over-grading a coin based on PCGS standards. What other services do is irrelevant.