Rating The Graders

I've seen the HSN and other pay TV shows.

Is "first strike" a sham?

TPGs must make a lot of money on this stuff, it's a shame. They cheapen their their brand and give the whole lot a bad name.

I haven't bought any modern(?) coins. I've read some have potential, I'll stay away from the TV hucksters. Thanks for the input Metalman.

From limited experience and observation, I would agree with most all of Metalman's observations. I have used Anacs, and also own coins graded by PCGS and NGC. The service from Anacs has been generally good, though recently I felt that was sliding. What the sale of Anacs to James Taylor will change, time will tell.

On the "First Strike" issue, I would agree that is generally something of a sham, but one the marketplace thus far seems to have responded to somewhat. One should recall, however, that the mint DOES issue "first day coin covers" for the Statehood Quarters and the Presidential dollars. The coins in these covers, I think, may accurately be considered "first strikes."

I would rate grading as PCGS ---anacs---NGC in that order. PCGS coins always seem to be PQ. They most often give a "market grade" (what the coin will sell for) ANACS seems to give more of a technical grade , Which I think works better, plus they will slab a coin even if there are any problems (cleaned Etc) so its not a total loss and your coin gets sealed in a safe slab that you can't drop etc etc. NGC Seems to be slipping lately, I have seen personally 3 errors in attributing or mislabeling a coin in the past year. It sometimes depends on the coin though. I think NGC is too picky on morgans and not picky on sheild nickels and Liberty nickels, where-as ANACS is less picky on Morgans and more on the nickels, only by a point either way though. So I send mine to the less picky grader for that coin to get the slightly higher grade. Just my 2 cents!

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Which is the strictest?

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Tough question to answer because not a graders at the big companies grade the same types. To be honest, I think PCGS grades very tough on coins that may have a decent value. I think all of them grade tough on the coins that have a big jump in value between grades. Typically you only see this in the MS63-65 range in a lot of different series. I think that's why all of them seem to be lenient for the most part in something like an old capped bust half. Some may say VF and we say no way, that's F12 at best. But they don't care as much since it is only a jump of a few dollars. If it's the difference between a MS62 @ $200 compared to a MS63 @ $1500, I think you will find some strict eyes. Granted, I am using the capped bust as an example only to make my point.

I certainly do not mean to offend anyone and their choices, but this is what I see way too often. Unfortunately PCGS still offers the increase in resale, so I would probably stick with them if that was my purpose. If I plan on keeping it, I would probably use ANACS or ICG.

You shouldn't have to apologize. He may well be a singer; he is certainly an actor, and he told me himself he knew nothing about grading coins.

As you can see from my other posts(and almost all here agreed), I'm getting beat down in grading by the new ANACS.

Please elaborate, Gusp.

Bilbo,
I too would put PCI in the second tier as well as SEGS. Both are liberal on moderns but relatively solid in grading classics. They are both true TPGs in the fact that they have a physical address, accept public submissions, and are not a way for some shady guy to sell his own junk coins. However, outside of those two and the Top 4, those are waters that I do not wish to wade into, lest I drown in a sea of incredibly overgraded, cleaned, damaged, and possibly counterfeit junk