What's Your Opinion: Re: $.50 Bounty for Old PCGS Labels

ChuckC

What is the price of good information these days? Would an increase to $1 per label increase the inflow of labels so that pop reports are more accurate? What about $5 per label?

(PCGS currently offers 50 cents per returned label from crackouts)

sorry if this has already been discussed!

ksteelheader

I feel that 50 cents is extremely low. Put a label in an envelope and send it in and you have 14 cents left after postage!

BillJones

Unfortunately the horse in out of the barn. There have been so many labels that have been tossed after the coins were cracked that buying up what is left now would not do much good. At any rate the system of having to pay to get things certifed, the fact that good coins are in slabs other than PCGS and very rare coins that got body bags all make the POP reports FAR LESS than a perfect tool.

Look the POP reports. Read the literature about die varieties and such. Look at auction catalogs. Only then will you start to get reasonable ideas about true rarity.

fivecents

There ain't NO WAY PCGS would pay 1$ or more for old PCGS labels. I think 50c is a fair amount.
One way PCGS would get more labels is to mail the labels back to the owners after removing it from the pop reports. I believe that alot of these labels are being kept because of ego(to show off to friends) and to keep in dansco albums with the coin that was cracked out.

Barry

There's no point to pay anything. It's too late. The data is corrupted and can't be fixed.

Steve27

" I think 50c is a fair amount."

Why? Sounds very low to me.

fivecents

<< <i>Why? Sounds very low to me. >>


OK...How much do you think is a fair ammount?

RYK

I had suggested in the Q&A that instead of paying 50c per label (which I believe is given as a credit, not cash), the label submitters should be entered into a raffle to receive a universally desired coin, anything from an MS-63 Saint to a High Relief Saint. The raffle could be held at whatever the appropriate interval would be for the prize, the winner publicized, etc. It might draw more labels back in.

I agree with Barry. It is probably too late. The pop reports are one piece of information but not an authoritative source for determining the rarity of a coin, especially in middle to upper-middle grades.

Frankly, I do not think PCGS or NGC really cares that much about pop reports. They do not generate revenue.

CarlWohlforth

I think there was no bounty for a while. That is very bad. At least 50 cents will encourage crack out artists to consider the value of their pile of old labels.

For those who suggest a $5 bounty where does this money come from? Personally I think grading fees are already too high and am not willing to pay $5 extra.

So I think 50 cents is good. True (as Bill says) the pop reports will never be %100 accurate, but some bounty is better than none.

Robgetty

I don't think that there will be an answer that will satisfy everyone. They can raise it to
$5 per insert returned, but then they will increase grading fees.

ChuckC

<< <i>Frankly, I do not think PCGS or NGC really cares that much about pop reports >>



I disagree. With regard to low pop coins and the self-interest factors related to the graders, there could be a large difference in value between a 1/0 coin and a 2/0 coin. I am not accusing TPGs of grading a coin an extra point higher for personal gain, but there is arguably some bias when PCGS has a strong candidate for the finest known grade that would increase the pop to 2/0.

Another scenario:
Imagine if years ago, a 1/0 pop top coin valued at $5,000 was cracked out (for whatever reason). This caps the value of the population of coins one grade below this grade (let's say $800). Wouldn't the coin collecting public and the TPGs want to know if the 1/0 was cracked out? In other words, those holding the pop below could potentially have the new pop top which would probably increase the coins' values to let's say $1,500/ea. This is why it's important to return those labels, especially in low pops!