PCGS has taken great pride through the years in the fact that it wouldn't put damaged, cleaned, altered, holed, or other so-called "problem" coins into its much-vaunted holders (slangily called "slabs" among collectors.) That high-falutin' stance has changed with the introduction of the new "Genuine" service that PCGS has rolled out. For $100 bucks each, PCGS will put just about any genuine coin into its plastic capsule, along with an insert stating that the coin is genuine, but with no grade assigned. (The only exceptions to coins eligible for the "Genuine" service are coins that have surface damage that might get worse over time, or coins that are too damaged to authenticate.)
PCGS says the turnaround time for the "Genuine" service will be "approximately the same for all other PCGS services." Huh? All of PCGS's other (non-show) services have a range of turnaround times that vary from 2 days to 20 - 35 days (and these are business days, so add another 30% to cover weekends and holidays.) PCGS also says that it will refund the $100 plus the related shipping charges for the coin if it rejects the coin for the "Genuine" service. But what about coins you send in for normal grading that miss the mark because of a small ding on the edge or something? Will PCGS just holder them as "Genuine" rather than send them back in a body bag? Oh, that makes too much sense, and is too logical! Plus, PCGS wouldn't earn any extra fees that way! Coins which are rejected for normal grading will be shipped back to the submitter, and then must be resubmitted under the "Genuine" service (with the concomitant $100 per coin, of course.) And no, you cannot apply the $30 fee you lost when the coin was rejected, to pay towards the "Genuine" fee. That's a different service!
In an article about the new service in the June 23, 2008 issue of Coin World, PCGS President Ron Guth says that an important factor in offering the "Genuine" service was to allow Registry Set collectors a chance to complete their collections. In certain coin series, it was virtually impossible for the average collector to acquire a PCGS-graded specimen of specific coins because most of them didn't qualify for slabbing. Now, Registry Set collectors can add a PCGS "Genuine" coin to fill those slots. "Genuine" graded coins are worth 1 point in Registry Set collections. I found this explanation from Guth a little curious, since it has long been common knowledge that PCGS will pretty much slab and net grade anything if the coin is rare and valuable enough, and you're the right submitter. (Guth refers to this as "a case-by-case basis.") Perhaps it was with this double standard in mind that Guth told the Coin World reporter, "Now that we have a 'Genuine' certification/ranking, we're less likely to to be 'netting' a coin." Less likely? Shouldn't net grading end here?
Another recent PCGS service change was the addition of its new "CrystalVue™" holder a couple of months or so ago. This holder is designed to hold an entire roll of coins! The coins are all checked by PCGS to verify that they are BU (Brilliant Uncirculated) and free of any errors. The entire roll will get a grade indicating its BU state; the individual coins won't be graded on the 70-point scale. The CrystalVue™ holder is a clear plastic material, so you can see the edges of the coins as well as both ends, and the coins will be positioned so that an obverse shows at one end and a reverse shows at the other end. The holder is sonically-sealed, just like PCGS's single-coin slabs. If you enjoy searching rolls of coins for errors and varieties, you definitely don't want to be buying these!
PCGS says the turnaround time for the "Genuine" service will be "approximately the same for all other PCGS services." Huh? All of PCGS's other (non-show) services have a range of turnaround times that vary from 2 days to 20 - 35 days (and these are business days, so add another 30% to cover weekends and holidays.) PCGS also says that it will refund the $100 plus the related shipping charges for the coin if it rejects the coin for the "Genuine" service. But what about coins you send in for normal grading that miss the mark because of a small ding on the edge or something? Will PCGS just holder them as "Genuine" rather than send them back in a body bag? Oh, that makes too much sense, and is too logical! Plus, PCGS wouldn't earn any extra fees that way! Coins which are rejected for normal grading will be shipped back to the submitter, and then must be resubmitted under the "Genuine" service (with the concomitant $100 per coin, of course.) And no, you cannot apply the $30 fee you lost when the coin was rejected, to pay towards the "Genuine" fee. That's a different service!
In an article about the new service in the June 23, 2008 issue of Coin World, PCGS President Ron Guth says that an important factor in offering the "Genuine" service was to allow Registry Set collectors a chance to complete their collections. In certain coin series, it was virtually impossible for the average collector to acquire a PCGS-graded specimen of specific coins because most of them didn't qualify for slabbing. Now, Registry Set collectors can add a PCGS "Genuine" coin to fill those slots. "Genuine" graded coins are worth 1 point in Registry Set collections. I found this explanation from Guth a little curious, since it has long been common knowledge that PCGS will pretty much slab and net grade anything if the coin is rare and valuable enough, and you're the right submitter. (Guth refers to this as "a case-by-case basis.") Perhaps it was with this double standard in mind that Guth told the Coin World reporter, "Now that we have a 'Genuine' certification/ranking, we're less likely to to be 'netting' a coin." Less likely? Shouldn't net grading end here?
Other PCGS Service Changes
Beginning July 1, the hoi polloi (that means the vast majority of mortals like me and you) will no longer be able to get special slab inserts for their coins, such as "Satin Finish," "50 States Flags," "Signature Series," and "First Strike." These designations will only be available through the Bulk Submission program. But the Bulk Submission Program is getting more rarefied, too. PCGS Collectors Club members can no longer make Bulk Submissions as of July 1. They must apply to become a PCGS Authorized Dealer. The net result will hopefully be that we'll see a lot fewer of those misleading "First Strike" slabs floating around. In fact, that's probably why PCGS is changing the rules. If you want these designations, you'll have to pay one of their dealer insiders for it; you cannot request it yourself for your own coins any more! (And some people wonder why I am critical of PCGS when they continue to enact policies that benefit a very small number of major dealers at the expense of our entire hobby marketplace!)Another recent PCGS service change was the addition of its new "CrystalVue™" holder a couple of months or so ago. This holder is designed to hold an entire roll of coins! The coins are all checked by PCGS to verify that they are BU (Brilliant Uncirculated) and free of any errors. The entire roll will get a grade indicating its BU state; the individual coins won't be graded on the 70-point scale. The CrystalVue™ holder is a clear plastic material, so you can see the edges of the coins as well as both ends, and the coins will be positioned so that an obverse shows at one end and a reverse shows at the other end. The holder is sonically-sealed, just like PCGS's single-coin slabs. If you enjoy searching rolls of coins for errors and varieties, you definitely don't want to be buying these!
Comments
Sounds as it may be an “ok” idea, but maybe they jumped the gun a bit. Perhaps they need to formulate some sort of separate grading scale for damaged or error coins. Maybe based on severity, rareness, etc. Without it having a grade it seems to me that placing the coin in my own air-tite holder would save me a bunch of money.
Just my opinion, but I think it’s a smoke screen approach to acquire revenue without having to commit to a specific set of rules or value scale. The guy looks at the coin says “Yep, it’s genuine” snaps it into an air-tite & sends it back to you… ching-ching 100 bucks! hmmmm.
Thanks…
The “first strike” designation was always a scam, because all it really certified was that the coin was submitted for grading within a month after it was first released by the mint. It might have been the first coin struck with a particular pair of dies, or the 50,000th coin. And since a PF69 first strike cannot be distinguished from a PF69 later release, the whole idea flies in the face of the “buy the coin, not the holder” principle. I like the flag holders: at least they look nice. But “first strike” designation is just artificially created scarcity.
Greedy B@st@rds!
Slabing a coin and calling it ” genuine ” without a grade does not address the coin’s value! Save youself $ US 100 and slab it yourself.
This is meant for high value, problem coins.
PCGS is also not a non-profit company. They have to make money in order to stay in business. If you want to vent against greedy companies, try the oil companies.
Is it me, or are coin collectors real weanies? It also seems like Susan’s topics hardly generate any discussion any more.
LOL, I knew when I wrote this PCGS piece that my old pro-PCGS buddies would stop by and say hello! Nice to see you dbtuner! =)
Since you asked, my blog posts are getting more comments per week now than they were a couple months ago. The posts that get the most comments, though, are the Coin Dealer Ethics topics, which often get 30 to 60 comments each. Since I haven’t done one in a few weeks, maybe that’s why you have the impression my comments are down. Would you like to suggest a topic for an ethics discussion? =)
Susan Headley
Coins Guide
here’s one. How about a topic on the coin forums. Do a lead on on how they have gotten out of hand according to some, guys get banned, and then take out web sites like your buddy Zornes.
I’ll bet that will get 100’s of replies, if that’s what your after.
Hello Everyone,
#2 gdnp; I gotta say I have to agree with you there. Here’s another point. I’ve waited over a month for some of the mint products to arrive, after their release. I suppose according to the “First Strike” rule these coins wouldn’t be eligible for that type of slab, huh?
#5 dbtuner; I’m curious as to how someone can determine if they have a “High value, problem coin” in the first place. I mean I thought that was supposed to be the role (in part) of the TPG? If the PCGS is simply going to slab the coin with no apparent value or stat attached to the “Problem Coin” someone sends in, what’s the sense of paying $100 bucks to slab it “IF” they slab it at all?
Thanks Again…
Coins already slabbed by TPG’s other than PCGS already grade/net grade problem coins. If you have a coin in one of those other TPG’s and wanted it in a PCGS holder now you can do that. You might want to do that if you have a very expensive Registry Set at PCGS.
Also, if you have a very old rare coin and know that it is cleaned or scratched and want it determined to be Genuine, you can now do that with PCGS.
Personally, I would rather see PCGS add another $100 fee to give you a net grade as well. I guess they are dipping their toes in the water to see how this goes.
In a perfect world, they would start up a new grading service called “PCS” akin to NGC’s NCS. This way you could search for PCGS coins and know they were all non problem coins.
PCGS grades about 400k coins every qtr. How many coins this will bring in is a guess but I would imagine somewhere between 1k and 10k coins. That’s another $100k to $1M more in fees per qtr with very low liability. All they are saying is the coin is genuine. If they net grade it, then they have warranty liablity for life.
If they eventually do net grade problem coins, I hope they offer a 2 year warranty on the net grade. They have been losing money the last few qtrs as they have been honoring their warranties.
Hi Susan! How come i have to wait till midnite for this site to turn into a pumpkin so it’s useable? Otherwise daytime ratings are in the terlit.
In a perfect world, no one would have to make up the difference for riseing gas prices. I spose PCGS needs more revenue before to keep the books balanced till the smoke clears.
It sounded good at first. What does it really accomplish, besides dipping into pockets. Are they tying to make up for all the body bags of the past? Funerrals aren’t cheap!
coiny
Hi Coiny! Nice to see you here! =) I’d also like to send greets to gdnp and the Yankee! I appreciate everyone’s comments very much!
As for the different versions of my site that you may have been seeing, About.com has been doing some testing. This testing will end on July 1, which won’t be too soon for me, since I hate it when things are changing all the time. (Not everyone sees the changes each page, it depends on your cookie settings.)
Dbtuner, thank you for suggestion of the ethics topic. I’m going to take you up on it and we’ll see what people have to say about the different ways that online discussion forums can be run. This is an excellent topic that probably touches nearly all of us, since I think just about everyone has somewhere online that they go to to socialize and chat about their interests. (If you don’t, check out my own forum here. It’s dead right now, but I’m about to kick it into shape soon!)
Susan