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HUGE awards article in the new PCGS Insider magazine that just showed up!
oldsmagnet
Posts: 303 ✭✭✭
Just kidding --there's nothing there. At all. @Charles_Morgan - IS there some significant announcement to be made, or do we all just take our marbles and go home? You made it sound like we'd be impressed with what was in store. So far... we're not.
EDIT thanks to a reversal of the website update, I'm finally able to edit this to say I missed the two-page news release in the back of the magazine that mentioned the awards. I'd only looked in the contents, where we'd normally been finding such things in the past. Silly me. Sorry I blew up.
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The environment of the census is such that the concepts and applications are being transitioned with state-of-the-art diagnostic tools incorporating the needs and experiences of the users population so that the scale of the terrain can be adjusted to best pivot to the phase in which the decisions to move to a broader event can be fully realized.
https://numismaticmuse.com/ My Web Gallery
The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
I'm not exactly impressed but there is something. Not enough but it's not accurate to say nothing.
chopmarkedtradedollars.com
Cr*p -- I'll grant you that one - I looked through the contents listing, and got disgusted and tossed it down. Newsflash I guess would be fitting enough, I suppose, since they flashed right by the whole thing - as did I. Thanks for catching that and correcting me! (I'll see if this new forum will let me edit my original post)
I want to level-set here so the members who've been most vocal aren't left spinning their wheels waiting on something specific.
There is genuine, strategic human involvement behind the PCGS Set Registry program. This work is continuous and long-term in scope — some changes will be announced publicly, others will happen behind the scenes without a specific callout. No single incremental change should be read as a signal of the program's overall direction or pace.
I'm actively engaged with this community and will continue to be accessible.
Manager of Numismatic Research and Programs | PCGS
Apparently editing posts on here is not an option, the settings gear-wheel and three-dots next to the post do nothing - at least on two of my computers and three browsers. So I'll leave my original post as-is (not that it's all too far off)
@Charles_Morgan - This vocal member is now spinning wheels even worse - I have absolutely NO idea what you just said up there.
ARE WE LOSING THE BANNERS? WILL THEY BE UPDATED TO RECOGNIZE 2026 BEST OF REGISTRY PLACES??? WILL PLATINUM AND 10-YEAR BANNERS BE POSTED TO THOSE WHO HAVE EARNED THEM???
That should NOT be a hard set of questions to answer. You've seen us ask that question for months now and have continually skirted around the issue doing your best to specifically NOT address those concerns.
There's nothing "level-set" about it. The questions have been, and continue to be, avoided. These are NOT complex issues. The fact that they keep getting avoided certainly gives the impression that we've got our answer - They're yes-or-no answers that should not require ANY extra thought or research. Or delay. You claim to be accessible - BE ACCESSIBLE. And not in a "one on one phone call" sort of way, we ALL have the same questions, and WE ALL deserve the answers.
WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE BANNERS?
IMO, Mr. Morgan would make a great politician. After reading his statement I'm still in a fog.
"Waiting on something specific"? He said details are coming in early posts.
How difficult is it to answer 'oldsmagnet' bold letter questions(?)
fka renman95, Sep 2005, 7,000 posts
To be honest, I was not expecting to win "Best Modern World Coin Set". What a pleasant surprise. I think that is the first time a Canadian set has taken that award.
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I received the September-October Issue #9 on Wednesday. Having been at the Pittsburgh event I expected to see the full list of set registry winners somewhere within and found it straight away.
For me it was HUGE to see my modest $2.50 set recognized within the same article announcing Hall of Fame sets and the PCGS Set of the Year. Until I got the call from Charles I never expected any sort of recognition. - The award was thus a pleasant surprise. Going forward my set could easily be surpassed when other $2.50 specialists decide to join the registry. I certainly don't view future recognition as an entitlement.
Kudos to Charles for helping organize the registry event and all at PCGS that provide us with a showcase for our collections.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907/publishedset/15628
March of Time - 27 Centuries in Gold
https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=36590
Were the two of you asked to post here in support?
Just ignore the hundreds of people who went from getting a pittance of recognition to nothing?
This is not something to be celebrated. If I got an award while all my fellow registry competitors went from getting something to nothing I would not be a voice in support. Disgusting to read "I got something I don't see a problem" to those who put their time money and effort into chasing the digital flare which costs PCGS nothing to being officially abandoned. I didn't complain when they dropped Plaques. I understood it cost money. I didn't complain when they did away with Pins. Following that some people were mailed printer paper with some words of encouragement. WE HAVE NOTHING.
https://numismaticmuse.com/ My Web Gallery
The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
Seriously? Did you think really hard before writing that?? Or are you of the generation where everyone gets a participation medal? Why do folks assume everything has ulterior motives or is a conspiracy?
I get your point; I worked hard to win a set 10 years in a row and now there are no longer the red 10-Yrs badges for the number 1 set. Yes, that pissed me off, but so what?
As for me posting here, so yeah, I finally won something after many years of building registry sets, especially so when there are only two awards out of the 40 that are not American coinage themed. Think about that... two awards for the entire world. So yeah, not everyone wins; that's life.
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Congratulations, of course, to those who have won awards this year. Some I've questioned, some are fantastic, but none of that matters for the purposes of this topic. For those who DID win awards, understand that unless someone happens to find the magical map of links to find the original online release, or accidentally finds the news update in the magazine, while looking for the crossword puzzle, nobody else will know you've won anything. People viewing your sets within the registry still do not see the fact that your set won an award. Congratulations. PCGS doesn't expect anybody to care. We were promised that we'd get answers and clarity to these issues over a month ago. And so far, all we've gotten is ignored, and one gaslighting burst of word salad. The problems we're worried about are affecting EVERYBODY, regardless of whether a bigger award was given or not. The last official word we'd gotten has been months ago, stating that the banners will be going away. So, your award winning sets, according to THAT statement, will have no recognition at all. Your awards will sit on your shelf, and nobody else will ever know
Why would getting an award for first place be considered a participation trophy?
https://numismaticmuse.com/ My Web Gallery
The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
I was disappointed when they dropped the plaques. Those were really classy. I understood, to a point, but was still disappointed. They offered us the option to buy our own, which I did. The first year, at least. They never extended that offer again. Why? Who knows. Guess they realized how arrogant it sounded to expect their competitors to buy their own trophies.
I saw an announcement that PCGS will no longer be requiring paid membership for coin submissions. Maybe they finally DID notice a bunch of us leaving.
What are you even yapping about I just checked your "outstanding set" that is somehow TOP 2 in the all of the modern world coinage and its :
2 Sets competing
25 Total coins
All are in NIFC in sets
you got it 60% complete
and have total of 8 top pops
and you tell OTHERS are getting participation trophy? You dont even have enough completed for a banner, absolute ridiculous statement saying "thats life" when you got paved gold road in front of you.
You should be quiet and enjoying your participation trophy unlike many people here who spend years trying to find best possible coins from auctions all around the world trying to upgrade a point or two with some of the coins being so hard to come by that they dont see them for half decade in auction, bro bought 12 sets, sent them for grading and got the easiest trophy in his life
and speaking about generations, I bet calling you "Me Generation" will be pretty fitting
Okay so to be fair to Roger here, your statement is almost completely wrong.
1) 5 sets competing, only 2 of which are complete
2) 27 total coins
3) You do actually find some of these occasionally circulated, but this is largely correct I believe.
4) He has it 100% complete
5) He has 21/27 top pops, including 9 that are solo top pops.
So yeah, in the context of modern world sets, it's a pretty nice set. Likely nobody will ever come close to beating him and Terry's set (the other complete one) isn't stellar so he would have to do a lot of work to get it anywhere close. The whole set is basically yellow. It's nothing that I collect so it doesn't excite me too much, but at least someone from Canada got recognition for something I guess, so yay? Not sure why so much vitriol in your post. Congratulate the guy and move on already.
Like others, I too would like a real, solid, meaningful update on the direction of the set registry. Being left in limbo for months is bizarre to me. I get that they might not know exactly where this is going to land, but surely some broad strokes could be shared so we have some idea of the plan? Charles?
PS Congrats Roger
I think we'll have some interesting news about the Registry go live today. Check the PCGS news feed.
Manager of Numismatic Research and Programs | PCGS
Also for what it's worth, only 3 of my registry sets would have fit in the world modern category, which is defined as 1965 or newer, and all of them are only single year sets. My point being that I didn't really have a lot of skin in the game here regardless.
There are not a lot of sets that have huge participation numbers by Canadian collectors, but the 1967 PL set does happen to be one of them with 29 active sets, 15 of which are complete. (not huge relative to US sets even remotely, but huge for us!) It was the centennial set for Canada and featured 100% unique coins produced for that year only. The wildlife theme of the coins seems to have appealled to a lot more collectors than most of the earlier sets.
So yeah, even though it is only a 6 coin set, I would have hoped it might have been in contention for the award. Probably not though, lol! I know cost is not even remotely a part of the award consideration but I also assume my 6 coin set was probably quite a bit more expensive than Rogers 27 coin set. He seems to have had extraordinary luck finding coins in bargain bins with that one!
Well I guess that largely answers that. Still a few questions (like what if you only win one or two years, does it show something?) but mostly this gives us the direction. Seems like it should be pretty clean.
Good to see they did the right thing. Echo'ing GlenS buy saying not sure what happens for sub 5 year awards. Suppose we shall see.
https://numismaticmuse.com/ My Web Gallery
The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
Relieved to finally see some form of answers -- would it have killed anybody to give the members SOME idea of what was going on, like a few MONTHS ago? I think we all would have been MUCH better off if nothing was said at all, rather than lead us to believe that everything WE were looking for would be thrown away. New banners - is there any provision within this system to show the sets that are TRULY cut-throat competitive? Like A's set wins one year, B's set wins the next, then C's, then A's again, then C's, etc, where these sets are fighting tooth and nail to stay on top? Because this kinda looks like they'll all just end up with the same banner and nobody will be able to see how much of a fight they've put on, to get on top and stay on top. It's fascinating to actually see how those sets have climbed the ladder over the years. At least, I find it fascinating anyway, and this really looks like that detail will be lost.
I will say, "Thank you" for not scrapping the whole works, like we'd been led to believe, but good lord this whole mess could have been handled SO much differently.
I'm glad you like the badge refresh and consolidation. More good stuff to come! Happy Collecting.
Manager of Numismatic Research and Programs | PCGS
In fairness, I don't think I noticed anyone actually saying they "like" it, just relieved that it's not quite as bad as we were led to believe. There's a significant difference there. For all the things broken in the registry, this still largely strikes me as a solution in search of a problem.
I guess I'll play devils advocate here. I like the refresh, at least what they are showing so far. I agree some small things will be lost, but let's all be real here, some of those sets were getting pretty cluttered with badges with all the various ones being given out. I think consolidating mostly down to a single badge per set is not a bad idea to reduce the visual clutter, and I think once we get used to them they will be an attractive update overall. I'm hoping that maybe for the 1-4 badge sets that maybe they come up with a bronze version that shows 1-4 years in them perhaps, but possibly they have a better idea to deal with those sets. Let's give them time to roll this out and see how it looks.
My set was #1 for 3 years, then this year I was passed. This is how it shows up with the new badges today:
When you hold the cursor over the badge, it shows the years:
Yeah i see mine are the same. That's honestly pretty well thought out. And despite saying 5+ they go all the way down to 1. Not sure if they were all supposed to look the same since in the infographic it shows the blue ones at 20+, but if they stick with something similar with the option to hover i don't see any issues with the change.
Ah okay I see what they are doing. Yeah that totally works!
@Charles_Morgan I think they should work on changing the hover text to appear BELOW the badge instead of above it. Putting it above the badge means you cover over the name of the set in question when you look at it, which is somewhat inconvenient.
Those are circulation strikes, very low mintages, and tossed aside into bins for decades by coin dealers because there was no intrinsic metal value; the US equivalent would be the Eisenhower dollars. You don't buy those from any set.
I am a Generation X, and I really don't give a damn what you think.
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Well, that really depends on how much value is placed on my time. I basically act as a "bank" for about a dozen coin dealers from Halifax, Moncton, Ottawa to Toronto, and have done so for about 12 years or more. I am fortunate enough to have a strong relationship with my bank, whereby I can deposit these coins in bulk. The coins in my set are equivalent to "junk bin finds" because dealers sell them to me by the 5-gallon bucket at face value. I don't count my time - the thrill of the hunt for the next MS-67 is part of what makes the hobby fun for me.
After reading an article about the series from Tom Becker, a dealer in New England who passed in 2014. He wrote a number of excellent articles, and it was this particular one that caught my interest. He called it a sleeper set in nice grades, due to these coins being the last, large heavy Canadian coins, and the last of the voyageur series, and largely ignored by coin dealers. So starting in 2007, off I went, determined to build the best set possible with coins at or near face value.
I probably search through about 12,000 nickel dollars annually, and only about 1 in 3000 is high grade enough to send to PCGS. A lot of the coins tied for top slot were also mine, and I have since sold those for some serious money to other collectors. Even Sandy Campbell once told me that what I have built, is something really special (if you know Sandy, then you know it takes a lot to impress him).
It is probably the easiest series for a novice to collect, but almost impossible to complete in MS-65 (or better). The only other Canadian series that you could possible do something similar is the nickel 50c series (1968-2000).
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I once built a really nice Eisenhower Dollar set - probably the fifth or sixth finest at the time. My friends owned the top two spots, and another friend had built the all-time finest. To put it in perspective, the cost differential between number one and number five was roughly the price of a Lamborghini. Most of us made our own coins through searching, pouring hundreds, if not thousands, of hours into the hunt. Much respect to those who enjoy the hobby this way.
Manager of Numismatic Research and Programs | PCGS
So please share your thoughts of your surname “Morgan” having an impact on your interest in coin collecting, even if only subliminally.
Thanks.
Steve
My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set! Winner of the 2026 PCGS Registry Award for “The Best U.S. Type Set”!
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
When I was in first grade, my grandmother had an example of this coin: https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1983-s-1-olympic-dcam/9608. She showed it to me. That's all it took. For my birthday, I got a Red Book and spent the next year searching for a Bar Copper in change. Never found one.
Manager of Numismatic Research and Programs | PCGS
So I feel like I am missing something. Are these awards not actually being given out for 2026? Only redesigned?
https://numismaticmuse.com/ My Web Gallery
The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
The 2026 badge upload will take place soon. The badges earned up to 2025 have been redesigned.
Manager of Numismatic Research and Programs | PCGS
Okay perfect. Good to hear just making sure.
https://numismaticmuse.com/ My Web Gallery
The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
So, we STILL don't know, or aren't admitting, if Platinums and 10 Years will be awarded? The new badges hide so much detail that I suspect most hadn't even realized 2026 wasn't in there yet. Myself included. WHY is it such a taboo concept to keep your users informed?
The badge system redesign preserves recognition of badges earned through 2025. The 2026 badges, which will soon be posted, recognize the 2026 competition winners. The rules and rewards for the 2027 competition will be announced in due time. We are not awarding additional recognition for the 2026 period.
Manager of Numismatic Research and Programs | PCGS
So, those of us who earned gold 5 years in a row WILL be denied the platinum badges?
I definitely find myself having to read between the lines lately to parse the meaning behind some posts, but this one appears to be fairly bluntly stated. Are you suggesting that there will be absolutely no further tags for top set annually any more? As in the only future badges we will see will be for the very small number of sets that receive recognition with awards? That’s sort of what it sounds like, but that can’t actually be what you mean, right? You couldn’t possibly be insane enough to discontinue annual badges for top set, could you? They are literally pixels. Undoubtedly it takes a bit of time for a few people to organize and get them distributed each year, but they are literally why some people participate in the set registry. I dare say, why a lot of people participate.
I’m honestly a fan of grouping the years together to be expended on hover like you have. I think it’s a smart way to condense all of the badge info for sets who have won top set in any number of years. When it was unveiled I suspect it prompted a collective sigh of relief that all the years of recognition for working on those to get them to the lofty heights they reached wasn’t obliterated. Maybe I’m the only one who assumed that those annual badges would continue on into the future, but I definitely did assume we were just waiting for our 2026 badges a little longer than usual.
On June 30th at midnight I had 13 modest top sets in the registry and I want to see, in some form, recognition of that for 2026. So please don’t tell me that you are completely abandoning that going forward and instead will only now be recognizing the 60 or however many sets that got special recognition this year. Please.
Well stated, Glen. Totally agree.
http://www.victoriancent.com
I too totally agree Glen. You are certainly not the only one who assumes the gold, platinum, and blue best of registry awards will continue past 2025. In fact, the idea that PCGS would suddenly pull the plug on these awards is so unthinkable, I think most of us did not even consider the possibility that PCGS would clean up the banner presentation, only to freeze it in amber and deny those of use with four or five gold awards to progress toward platinum status. A clarification from Charles Morgan would be reassuring.
If pulling the plug is in fact what PCGS plans, I urge them to reconsider. A lot of us will walk if this happens, and the registry would become a hollow shell of retired and abandoned sets.
Careful, they'll award you a profile icon to match mine, with that level of astute observation
I'm not. Personally, I hate it. It loses all reference to the back-and-forth tug of war many sets fought to get to the top. If it wasn't so overly hyped and cryptic "We're gonna give you the best thing in the world and let you sweat over not knowing anything about it!!" I'd maybe be a little less cynical. You have to actively hunt for details, and personally, I hate that. (Further proof is that it took most of us weeks to realize that 2026 still wasn't in there). Just my opinion - I realize they don't care about that.
Perhaps its an effort to make the sets more competitive to the lower level collectors --- and they will be. Because if the rankings game continue as currently assumed, it's a safe bet there'll be 22 first-place sets and 8 more top 5's getting deleted.
I'm more inclined to delete. I've got fancy plaques from when the registry was still good, to prove that my registry was once good. They don't need to profit off the echoes of what I built.
I honestly hope I’ve read that all wrong somehow. It boggles the mind to imagine that they would even consider abandoning the digital badges which are literally the only thing left now for anyone to compete for. The whole program has been gutted from what it was when I first started adding coins to my registry. In a way I kind of understand why the plaques became pins became basically nothing. As the registry expanded it got a lot more expensive to maintain that level of physical awards. So fine, it’s now just a digital recognition of your sets. So be it. Oh wait, now maybe we’ll not even make that level of effort to recognize the countless hours and hours of time and hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars you’ve put into building your top sets and hope you are just happy to be somewhere on the list of sets. Right? @Charles_Morgan please tell me I’m wrong in my interpretation.
The random nature of the new awards leaves it pointless to try to get those awards as who knows who is likely to get on the podium from year to year.
I’d be willing to bet that a sizeable percentage of registry participation can be directly linked to those seemingly innocuous (to PCGS people anyways?) digital badges for top sets. If those don’t happen in 2026 and beyond you are going to damage your brand in ways you can’t even imagine. Some (most?) people need something to shoot for. A goal to attain. For me it is trying to achieve top sets in my areas of interest. Without that recognition my interest will literally drop to zero overnight. Why would you want that to happen? Perhaps I sound overly dramatic in this post but I’m not exaggerating in the least. If this is the direction you are for sure going I will delete all my sets from the registry and stop collecting PCGS slabs in the future. Something to consider anyways. Or maybe not, I don’t know.
This is my thoughts exactly. What are we even doing here. Just delete the whole registry except for the sets you're giving awards to PCGS. If there's no awards or recognition there's no point in the investment. I've spent $10,000 in grading fees over the past 4 years. That's not much compared to some, but I promise you I wouldn't even have had a membership had it not been for the registry.
https://numismaticmuse.com/ My Web Gallery
The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
Correct, and I am pissed. I would've gotten a platinum for a set I've been working on for 8 years. Losing digital badges for 2026 will likely create a huge vacuum for registries and steer people toward other companies/forums, i.e. mycollect, CACG, etc.
I am already acquiring non-PCGS material and ceasing to do submissions. I am also very saddened by the quality of Trueview pictures for the past couple years. Even if our sets were recognized, they wouldn't even be photograph well beyond 2024.
I think a lot of this loss will be mitigated by PCGS opening up their submissions to the general public. Essentially, registry participants have spoken and said "we want digital icons (at the very minimum), and the resounding response from PCGS is no, it's just not that important.
Meanwhile a privacy-hidden set with six "best of registry" badges and zero Golds gets a Hall of Fame award.
Sometimes bad news is the hard push we need to make alternative decisions. I am sure everyone here that has a complaint with the registry is still going to collect coins. It may just push us to be more creative and go elsewhere. I am putting my money where my mouth is and collecting Redfield Peace dollars in original Paramount holders and CACG everyman coins now and I am not concerning myself with any PCGS registry items until the registry and Trueviews are fixed. MyCollect also has an interesting registry system that allows coins from multiple grading companies. Their layout is thoughtful and visually excellent.
CACG doesn't do foreign stuff (yet, at least) so they're out, for me. MyCollect is still pretty new, with a lot of growing still needing to be done, but in terms of service and direction, they're running circles around PCGS. I really like a lot of what MyCollect is doing.