PCGS and other top holdering companies–NGC, ANACS, CAC–evaluate a coin’s grade through a rigorous process involving expert visual inspection, magnification, adherence to the 70-point Sheldon Scale, and a final verification, focusing on wear, strike, luster, and eye appeal, then encapsulating it in a secure holder with its assigned grade for impartial certification.
Grading is subjective, but only to a small degree at top holdering companies. The problem, however, especially with PCGS and its popular CoinFacts site about retail and auction values, is that consignors and auctioneers use that data and inflate it to get higher bids on inferior lots.
Here’s an obvious example below. The seller states that these coins came from an elderly gentleman. All of them are graded MS70, the ultimate on the Sheldon numeric scale.
These inflated grades just aren’t accurate; these are just common coins in lower grades–almost 5 to 10 points lower on some. What irks expert numismatists, however, are sellers who feature the grades of basement holders and then cite PCGS values.
Below is an outrageous listing of a common Peace dollar with artificial toning, exposing the metal to sulfur or chemical, turning purple, blue and yellow hues and rendering the lot as silver melt–not the ridiculous opening bid of $4,000. This holdering company may be associated with the seller rather than with another reputable company. I’m not sure about that. But it doesn’t matter. This is a ruined coin, in my opinion.
Here’s another exaggerated grade, again quoting sight-unseen PCGS prices on a coin that was cleaned, dipped and re-toned, worth about $200 by my estimation in this condition and certainly not $78,000.
Let’s do one more:
The above coin has grease stains, poor luster, with some interesting toning. I wouldn’t bid higher than $75. And then I would have to spend time carefully using MS70 detergent methods to try to remove those stains–almost always a futile attempt that renders the entire coin as cleaned.
If you want to have your own coins graded, be sure to use PCGS, NGC, ANACS and CAC. You can read about each grading company here, as well as ones to avoid.
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