New member has a few questions

Radagast

One really. Does PCGS grade world coins and how much does it cost?

MacCrimmon

Two answers. Yes, $16 for world economy and $30 for the quicker turnaround. You have to subscribe to the gold or plat. level to get these prices.

laurentyvan

Uh Oh... wrong icon. Good thing cosmic is an understanding man!

I will let a PCGS qualified forum member answer your initial question.

trozau

Welcome to the forum. Cool icon.

Radagast

Do they grade them the same way as American coins?

Radagast

Is someone else using this icon? I'll change it if he will be upset.

Radagast

Thanks for the welcome. I have been looking around here for the last few days but just signed up last night. It took a stinking whole day for me to get a password in my email.

MacCrimmon

Do Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny live in the same burrow?

They do well with Swiss , and most 20th century material, but they do not have as indepth an experience with earlier UK or other European material, IMHO!

Basically, if the mints (Paris, UK, Bern, etc.) were running state-of the-art; i.e. comparable processes as the U.S. Mints, then yes, they do OK.

MacCrimmon

A whole day? Took me 10-15 days. Guess they didn't like the PrinceAlbert-in-a-can name!!

Radagast

I don't think I understand what you are saying Mr. Maccrimmion. In what way are Santa and the easter bunny like PCGS?

tlhoy

It took 4 days before they emailed me my password.
welcome!
Glenn

Radagast

After 15 day I would have forgot this place!

Radagast

Do the coins you send have to be worth a certain amount before they will grade them? I am working on a .925 set of modern English crowns and some are only worth about $20 or so. Is that to little for them to grade?

wybrit

They don't care what the coin is worth. If you're willing to pay the slabbing fees, they'll grade it and encapsulate it.

BTW - welcome.

wybrit

By "modern" I asume you mean the decimal crowns. The only true 20th century crown issued in .925 silver is the 1902.

Radagast

Thanks, yeah I'm after all of the crowns of the queen that have been issued in .925 proof.

trozau

Is it restricted to UK or will you be including crown sized issues from the Commonwealth as well?

Radagast

I want to get into all of the Commonwealth issues. To be honest I am very new to this and have only been collecting for about a year. I have about 15 Vatican coins and 9 crowns three are Isle of Man and five are England while one is from Bahamas.

I don't know a whole lot but I'm trying to learn so I hope I don't look like to much of an idiot to you guys!

I have an old Krause world coin guide from 1999 and that is it.

Radagast

PCGS has a free membership, can I send them world coins with that or should I cough up $99 to send them in? That would cut into my buying this month! :-)

The reason I'm interested is that I have a Diana crown that is PCGS PR-68 which I think is pretty cool and I'd like more in slabs. I understand that coins sell for more in slabs and if I croak I'd like the kids to get the best money for them, not that I plan on buying the farm anytime soon.

trozau

Since you seem to like Bob Marley (based on your selecting the gold Marley icon), then you should have the .925 silver crown sized 1995 Jamaica $50 commemorative.

Radagast

I didn't know that was Marley or even that he was on a coin, that is neat.

Askari

Welcome to the forum, Radagast!!



<< <i>Does PCGS grade world coins and how much does it cost? >>

They do, but they're one of the most expensive Third-Party Graders (TPGs). Generally, NGC has the best reputation, then ANACS, and then PCGS when it comes to grading non-US coins. Most world coin collectors (and especially collectors of ancient coins), however, do not care overmuch for slabbing their coins. IMHO, it certainly does have value for authentication purposes (especially for coins known to be counterfeited) as well as to protect exceptionally high-grade coins (say, MS-67+).



<< <i>Do they grade them the same way as American coins? >>

Yes ... and no. There are actually two slightly different grading systems used in the US. One is known as "technical grading" and is what you'll find in published grading guides for US coins. The other is called "market grading" which means making "allowances" for coins of particular types, dates, and mints as well as "eye appeal"; accordingly, the market grade can be slightly higher -- or, less frequently, lower -- than the technical grade. This difference is usually negligible for circulated coins and most comes into play with uncirculated coins -- where the "real money" is -- and where a "one-point" difference can literally multiply a coin's value. Aficionados closely track such nuances with publications like the Greysheet and this phenomenon is well-developed in the US market for US coins. When it comes to world coins, though, the TPGs have little experience with the much larger world of non-US coinage and so resort to technical grading, which is usually a little conservative. Moreover, the "market" for world coins is a little more complicated than for US coins. The US market for, say, German coins, is not the same as that for German coins in Germany, so there's a differential between the two. The grading standards are different too.

1jester

Welcome to the forum, Radagast! I hope you enjoy yourself here!

By the way, if you don't mind my asking, where are you located? We have members from many countries around the globe, and it's always nice to add to that list.