PCGS – Professional Coin Grading Service

Funny thing is my brother and I had bought the exact same coins from the US Mint, he accidentally dropped his on the floor and they ended up grading it an MS70, mine never left the package from the mint and it was graded an MS69… something doesn’t seem right.

!st time experience as a submitter to PCGS Long Beach ⁹⁄₂₀₁₅ EXPO coin show. Like that I was able to see online what my coins graded at. Three coins I submitted out of 28 that I submitted did not pass muster, i. e-​two cleaned and one ‘Questionable Color./UNC details.’ This was a 1928 Hawaiian 50C commem that I had purchased raw from a coin shop about 35 years ago in Orland Park, Il. I was always a little suspicious of it as I grew wiser, but my concern was whether it was a counterfeit (having learned that this coin is oft counterfeited). When I was at the Expo I asked David Hall, who was pleasant enough, though short in dialogue, whether my Hawaiian was genuine and whether I should submit for grading. He answered ‘absolutely.’ I assumed to both questions. It was interesting, he recommended that several (7 to be exact) of the coins be submitted for restoration, which I did, and they all came back as expected or better than expected. At the table away from David when I was writing up the coins for submittal I was talking with one of the order takers and he was looking at the Hawaiian and he commented along the lines ‘was I considering restoration for that coin? I told him that David had just given me his recommendations for my various coins and he did not include that one in the restoration group. The PCGS person behind the table said that David was the expert and if he said that then that’s what I should do, follow his direction. Needless to say, I now wonder if the coin would’ve graded if I“d had it restored, should I now consider such? I brought it to another show and some of the professionals there think the ‘questionable color’ may be a PCGS mistake, but also thought it’s still a $ 1,500 coin because it still looks sharp, would have to upgrade from ‘UNC Details’ to a 65 holder to materially affect the value which it may not, & that even if I attempt a restoration not sure of the outcome, therefore because of the look of this particular coin and the relative rarity, conclusion is ‘best to leave it alone.‘
I also had some other coins that I ended up with more questions even with the PCGS answers, i.e. an 1875 Seated Liberty proof half that graded pf64 but didn’t get the cameo designation that I thought would be almost certain (or the 65 grade I thought it might get for that matter, but I confess I can see that this is like an umpiring call in baseball and a matter of opinion can be debated endlessly), as well as an 1831 Bust Half that I thought very possibly would come back as a 64, but only got a 63, though the reverse is beautifully toned and almost certainly a solid 65. The front has what appears under a microscope to be a strike thru, & again I showed it around at another recent show and had a group of experts looking at it for over an hour conferring back and forth, with one of them also a bust half collector who came to me and said he had every variety bust half from that period and he 1) believed PCGS likely under graded it because they may have taken a pt away for the ‘strike thru’ and 2) I should sell it higher then PCGS stated value of which him or one of his friends might be willing to make an offer higher than PCGS book right then if I was willing to sell? Since i never have sold anything and likely never will (I am a true collector, and once I shell out the $ for something it goes into a safe deposit box for posterity).
I thought all this to be an interesting experience, especially in light of the fact that I know that I am indeed only an amateur who is still learning, still very exciting to me to finally find out what all my past raw purchases had amounted to, and despite my above descriptions this has further convinced me to keep (mostly) buying PCGS slabbed coins as the grading service of preference.
I must further admit I am still scratching my head about both of the two Morgans that came back as cleaned because amateur that I am I cannot tell even after spending quite a bit of time trying to spot a tell tale of such. One was a 1902 S Morgan and I am completely at a loss when I compare to others in holders, it must be very subtle, and I am at least pleased that the 1901 S came back with a good UNC grade, as did the 85 CC, and all of the others.
Will take out more of the old ‘raws’ purchased in days gone by from the box and submit at the next PCGS walk in opportunity, having heard there is likely an event coming up soon in SOCA.
All part of my ‘education’ and I generally would comment that PCGS could make a little improvement to their service by providing a simple commentary of unusual tells/​evaluations/​circumstances that might warrant some further action on the coins provide, maybe providing such as a footnote in their online results disclosure, or a footnote might even be along the lines of ‘please contact us for further recommendation (s)’ regarding your submittal… Now that would be value added!
A generally pleased customer who will continue doing business with PCGS.

After sending a few more batches of coins out to them, I’m not inclined to continue as a member of their organization.
I understand that what one pays for with PCGS is for them to render their opinion, whatever it may be. I also understand that frequently that won’t be in line with other appraisers or with the desires of the customer. I might want everything I send to them to be problem-​free and overappraised, but that’s not how they build a good reputation with their indirect customers – those who buy PCGS plastic.
That said, when one pays them $ 70 to render their opinion on a coin for a crossover that NGC has said is MS66 and CAC has said is solidly MS66 and it comes back «Did Not Cross», the least they could do is say what their opinion was – did they think it was MS65+? MS64? Artificially toned? Counterfeit? After all, the customer ostensibly paid them for their opinion, and they withhold it unless you actually want the coin in their plastic with that grade on it. The rationale behind this isn’t clear to me.
I will continue to buy PCGS-​slabbed coins at auction or otherwise, as I do trust the integrity of their grading. As a direct customer, however, it seems to me that one pays a handsome sum for their opinion, and that the direct customer may or may not actually receive the opinion they paid for.

This was the by far the best place to get my coin graded, and customer service made all the difference.
I thought there had been a mint error as there was a question about the coin’s declared value and its crossover rate, so I called customer service and spoke with Kathleen (sp?) and she was amazingly helpful and efficient and answered all of my questions about how this place has stricter standards than other grading companies.
Definitely will bring more coins to this place! And I hear they work with trading cards and other memorabilia too.

Lately, I had someone else send in a few coins for me to PCGS and guess what! ?
The cheep coins were graded appropriately and the more expensive expensive ones were graded as CLEANED… Hummmm?
Is it because I don’t go through a coin dealer that has a financial relationship with them PCGS and cost more to go through them… and private citizens that submit their coins as individuals are beat up by the PCGS’s graders. .?
Kind of like representing yourself in court without an attorney! … Judges are always more strict on those that represent themselves — -because after all. .they were once attorneys at one time and that’s how they make a living! …hummmmm?

I ‘m also in agreement with Steve M. and Victor H.
I went to Long Beach coin show for the past three to four year. There is no customer service, I was gotta join PCGS a few year back. but after talking to them, the way they address to you, as V. H mention, like you are a flea. I since then I went to join with NGC.
Now after all these year, I went to the Long Beach Coin show and talked to PCGS, I decided to continues with NGC.

These guys are either crooks or clowns – or both!
VERY ARROGANT to deal with, INCONSISTENT in grading and QUESTIONABLE business practices.
Avoid them at all costs!

The name seems to say it all, but there is so much more. In addition to being the most highly regarded coin grading company in the world, they also offer:
PCGS Set RegistrySM — Register your sets and see how your collection compares to others, including the greatest collections of all-​time.
PCGS Population ReportSM — On-​line census of PCGS-​certified coins. Discover the rarity of your coins.
PCGS Price Guide — The market’s most influential price guide. Prices are updated daily.
CoinFacts — NEW! The internet encyclopedia of U.S. coins
PCGS has made some impressive improvements making me reconsider them as a more significant choice for grading again. In the past I had significant enough problems with their services, especially customer service that I stopped using them for a couple of years.
They now email you letting you know that your grades are ready and allow you online access to view them. On a recent order they posted a grade that I did not agree with and removed the coin form the holder at my request. They also appear to be doing a better job wih grading as well.
They still have a lot of work to do as far as customer service is concerned though. I have recently tried to have them answer a simple question twice with no result. This problem persists. There are a lot of empty promises made by customer service.
One problem I have is that PCGS is too rigid about grading coins that are not on thier «list». I know that some of the other grading services are more open to grading esoteric or unlisted items.
Still four stars for the major improvements to an already reputable company. I think that perhaps the newer President Ron Guth has a lot to do with the improvements. He is a really nice guy and a brilliant Numismatist and businessman.
Update: 2÷14÷08 I had a great experience with a staff person named Diana at the Long Beach show. She is quite spunky and fun to deal with.