Grading is expensive. If you don’t know how to grade coins, buying coins top-tier will be your best bet. If you want to send you coins to a company, though, you had better know the various companies and which ones to avoid.
Each holdering company has its own rules, but two stand out with their grades so consistent that they were considered sight-unseen buys in the pre-internet era. Those are PCGS and NGC.
TOP TIER
My favorite for U.S. coins is PCGS because of its spectacular TrueView photos and set registries. Here’s one from a coin in my bank box, an MS68 1990 American Silver Eagle that looks like a flag, primarily because it was stored in corrugated cardboard.
NGC grades as consistently as PCGS. I use it for ancients. There is no better grading service for that. This, too, is in my bank box. (Never keep valuable coins in your house, even if you have a safe.)
Both PCGS and NGC have shortcomings, but I always recommend the two if you are considering grading. Click here for PCGS. Click here for NGC.
CAC (see photo below) is as consistent or even more so than NGC and PCGS. But it’s new to the grading game as it initially was founded as a fourth-party grading company, in essence, affirming (or not) grades of PCGS and NGC. One drawback concerns those assembling a set of PCGS or NGC to compete in registry sets. CAC is not there yet but will be in time.
SECOND TIER
Second-tier reliable grading companies include ANACS and ICG. ANACS coins in my view are close to PCGS/NGC in grading. ICG, less reliable.
Older ANACS holders sometimes are rigorously graded, as in this one:
Here is an 1878-S MS64 by ICG (I say MS63 at PCGS):
THIRD TIER
A few other holdering companies are hit-and-miss with a tendency to overstate grades and to overlook flaws. Nevertheless, they are somewhat reliable. I place them in a third tier. Those are old green and yellow PCI holders and SEGS and Numistrust holders. See below. I always look at these coins at auction and rely on my grading ability to affirm their grades. Personally, I like SEGS the best but have spotted common flaws on some of its coins, including pin scratches. So again I inspect rigorously.
BOTTOM TIER
These are some holdering companies I skip right over, not wasting time, because the grades are usually inflated and flaws, overlooked: SCG, National Numismatic Certification, newer PCI, PGA.
Here are examples:
JUST MY OPINION
Keep in mind that this post is based on my opinion and experience. You may think differently, experience different results, and even prefer lower tiers to PCGS and NGC.
But here is a warning if you are buying coins housed in these lower holders: Do not look up the year/date/mint mark on the PCGS or NGC values sites. All grading companies use the Sheldon 70 scale, but different grading standards mean different values. Read this post about that.
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