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Does PCGS still maintain grading Reference Sets?
georgiacop50
Posts: 2,909 ✭✭✭✭
Somebody told me they discarded that concept.
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Might be kind of difficult to do with rampant "grade inflation."
Not really, you just shift everything up one spot.
Then when it's time to throttle back on the grades, just shift them back down. It's super simple really. 
No.
They sold them off and have high resolution photos instead. There was a post on the web site at one time.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
I imagine that grading sets for SOME series would be prohibitively expensive to assemble and use! Sure, anyone could probably assemble a Morgan, or Lincoln, or Mercury grading set. But Draped Bust coins? Flowing Hair? Fugio? Guess I'd rather they release those "into the wild" for collectors to have fun with!
The grading set coins I've seen have been the more common coins - Lincoln, Mercs, Barber, Morgan, Walker, etc.
I put together 2 "sets", G4 through AU58 in Lincolns and Mercs.
Would love to acquire scarcer types if anyone knows where to find them!
I read quite some time ago that they disposed of the sets and use photographs. I know there are several forum members that assembled grading sets in their area of interest. They make a good reference point, but, as always, they represent opinions. Cheers, RickO
For me the great thing about a reference grading set is that it helps you to keep your grading eye. Sometimes when I had been out on buying trips and had almost started to believe the inflated grades that I saw in some inventories, I’d come home and look at my collection. That got me back on an even keel.
This was more than 15 years ago before “grade-flation” was getting to be really common.
There was a collector who had a virtually complete grading set of gold coins in PCGS holders (Good to MS-66). Two sets of the $3. He told me one of them was on display at Stack's in NY. I tried to point him to some buyers including the ANA but last I heard (over a year ago) he had no takers. It's a lot of money but it seems to me that the ANA could have used it for classes and it would possibly be a safe place to park some money. I've heard for years that the price of gold will go up - e v e n t u a l l y.
We have serveral. An original three cent set that we use as our standard and about 6 other sets (cent, Buffalo, dime, quarter, Morgan) which we loan out for clubs & collectors Etc to learn from.