Secure holder question

Oxenham

I need to have some coins graded and I am debating whether or not to go with the Secure service. Is it worth the extra money?

DeliaBug

Depends. What are the coins?

lkeigwin

I can think of a few reasons to use Secure Plus:

1) You like the idea that if your coin is stolen it would be ID'd if sent through SP again.
2) You want assurance that there no "banned substances" on your coin (Sniffer test).
3) You like the look of the holder.

Maybe there are more reasons others can point out.

Reasons not to use Secure Plus:

1) It costs more. (I don't believe SP adds any monetary value when a coin is sold.)
2) It's easy enough to submit a stolen coin through the regular service to bypass fingerprint detection.
3) The coin is handled a little more in order to sniff and fingerprint it.
4) A coin conservative (like Blue Ribbon or Verdicare) has been used on the coin and you want to bypass the Sniffer.

I don't remember if the turnaround time for grading is any different.
Lance.

sniocsu

It really does depend on the coin.

LindeDad

I like the service for any of the gold coins that were subject to ???????

1tommy

Right now it appears you can still join there club levels at last years prices, so if you have 4 or 8 coins buy the package and than you can use that package and send all coins under Secure Plus at no additional fee. I myself believe the coin gets a better look over under secure plus resulting in more approriate grades. Enjoy collectors club membership

DeliaBug

More appropriate??

Oxenham

Blue Ribbon or Verdicare? Not exactly sure what this is, but I am certain I don't want any of it touching my coins.

My coins are $20 gold, and I am virtually certain that they have never been messed with.

"The coin gets a better look over under secure plus resulting in more appropriate grades"? I find this hard to believe.

RYK

"The coin gets a better look over under secure plus resulting in more appropriate grades"? I find this hard to believe.

There are many misconceptions re: Secure Plus, and this is one.

Others have already been recounted in this thread.

Here are the facts:
1. The holder is different.
2. It costs more.
3. It has not been widely accepted by collectors and dealers.

There are some other potential benefits regarding the ability to fingerprint coins if stolen and resubmitted, the use of a Sniffer (which is not exclusive to SP), and others, but it has never been clearly articulated to the dealer and collector community such that SP remains a small fraction of the US coins in PCGS holders on the market.

Edit: In fairness to PCGS, it is very difficult to market the advantage of using the SP service without suggesting that there is something lacking in the standard service, the market leader and the one that essentially initiated the professional grading/slabbing concept.