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Grading Expensive Coins
pruebas
Posts: 5,239 ✭✭✭✭✭
Has anyone noticed that grading expensive coins has gotten crazy?
These are the grading fees (excluding shipping and membership) for various coin values:
$10k coin: NGC=$80 PCGS=$70
$20k coin: NGC=$175 PCGS=$150
$30k coin: NGC=$650 PCGS=$150
$60k coin: NGC=$950 PCGS=$900
$90k coin: NGC=$1250 PCGS=$1200
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It’s crazy yet I will continue to pay it if the economics make sense. What I will do much less of is crossovers as a result.
Latin American Collection
I’ve noticed that conservation also went up from 3% to 4% at NGC. Not sure about PCGS.
Unless PCGS just raised their fees, your numbers are not correct.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
PCGS has raised fees starting 1 Aug.
Opinions are expensive. Collectors who refuse to learn how to grade have unleashed these costs on themselves.
For me (and I assume many here) it's not that we cannot grade. We want our coins in plastic for various reasons.
Personally, I care more about correct attribution than I do about the TPG assigned grade. I can grade and knew what I was buying before buying them.
Well that sucks. Except maybe for CAC.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Ouch!
Another reason why I like raw coins and album collecting.
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
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The guarantee premium is the most dubious part of the pricing structure for raw and regrades.
What added liability is PCGS assuming for grading a raw coin or regrading one in their own holders?
I can loosely accept added risk when crossing over a coin graded by another company, but to universally apply the risk premium is just a blatant money grab.
I have largely stopped crossovers and attempts at upgrading the coins in my collection and now I think I am fully done.
Latin American Collection
That is why you should buy already graded coins...
Not a fan of crossovers… either buy the coin in the TPG holder of your preference or submit your raw coin to the TPG Co that you feel will best represent your numismatic interests in that specific coin.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Well of course. The 1% GP is what drives up the cost.
I get that it costs more to “insure” a $1m coin than a $100k coin for authenticity, and the grading fee would otherwise be identical for the two coins. But the TPGs must grade thousands of $1000 coins for every $1m coin. And the implicit premium in grading those $1000 coins far exceed the “insurance” cost of those coins (think moderns). Hence you could argue that previously, the cheaper coins effectively subsidized the expensive coins. I would argue there are better ways to accomplish leveling the playing field.
I think they have now lowered the price point of the start of the GP too low and it has become a money grab “because they can.”
I’m sure you understand that sometimes that’s not an option.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Funny, my initial reaction was that I should focus on collecting something that doesn’t need to be slabbed. Not that I’d stop submitting coins that I’ve bought for resale. I can pass those costs along to another collector who values the plastic more than I do. But I don’t want to buy thousand dollar plastic holders for my own collection.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Beanie babies?
Not a crazy idea, but Tucker would probably destroy them first time I turn my back on him.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
@MrEureka
Correct… and as time progresses, I suspect the option will narrow further with those coins that are seldom offered.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Sure, at some point you can avoid graded coins altogether. Yet the market is really biased towards plastic. And while there are many reasons (valid or not) to prefer encapsulated specimens, clearly the grading is a very expensive part of the hobby and likely you save buying encapsulated coins. But I have never done a study on this...
Not to mention that all collectors do not subscribe to “US coin grading standards,” which is what you get with third-party grading.