So What Do You Think Of NGCx?

Thanks, @nfine. Boy I don't like the feel of this.

The 70-point grading scale for coins isn't going anywhere, same as always submitting to NGC. Rather, NGC recognized an opportunity to bring in new collectors to the hobby (more approachable to more people) - NGCX makes it easier than ever for collectors of comics, trading cards, sports cards and other collectibles graded on a 10-point scale to expand their interest potentially over to coins. Most collectors of other tangible assets like cards and comics are already familiar with the 10-point Scale which is why it was attempted to use that vs a more techy 70 point scale. The Scale is more intuitive for many people and simplifies transitioning to coins. The new Scale should invite new people into the market, increasing the demand for coins. Increased demand should translate to higher prices. When the new Scale becomes widespread, and a wave of investors enters the market, many existing coin investors will be positioned nicely to recognize gains. (so they claim)

10=70, 9.9=69. Hmm, it is basically a marketing campaign. They are trying to more closely align with how grading works in other collectibles. So now a kid could get a comic book and coin both graded 10. Easy to understand for newbies, might bring in new younger collectors. However, this program is only for coins going out to partner companies, the public will not be able to submit to NGCX early on. Of course, if it is popular, that may change.

About the only people who have used NGCX are

* VaultBox
* Some bullion sellers
* A few Chinese sellers

I've seen almost nothing else using the new scale. They still have not opened submissions to ordinary shrubs, it's bulk and special label customersonly.

To me, as someone that doesn't really use Sheldon, the new scale makes more sense. Sheldon is supposed to be a 70 point scale, but from what I see it only uses 29 numbers, so what's the point. The NGCx scale has half ratings on lower numbers and 0.1 in the 9 to 10 range, so that is 29 ratings in total.

Have seen ASE's with the NGCx slabs here and there on ebay. If I was looking to buy a particular coin and found it available in either an "NGCx 10" or an "NGC MS70", I would take a pass on the "x" version.

@datadragon: Thank you for the analysis.

Not a fan. The Sheldon scale is what numismatists are used to.

I suppose there could be value in a 10-point scale when you are describing MS coins, but once you fall below those tiers, the 10-point scale is overkill. I will stick with what I know - the Sheldon scale.

Hi JBuck.... Yes but as in my reply above the 70-point grading scale for coins isn't going anywhere, same as always submitting to NGC. Rather, NGC simply recognized an opportunity to bring in possible new collectors to the hobby (more approachable to more people) - NGCX makes it easier than ever for collectors of comics, trading cards, sports cards and other collectibles graded on a 10-point scale to expand their interest potentially over to coins. Most collectors of other tangible assets like cards and comics are already familiar with the 10-point Scale which is why it was attempted to use that vs a more techy 70 point scale. The Scale is more intuitive for many people and simplifies transitioning to coins. The new Scale should invite new people into the market, increasing the demand for coins. Remember these are being used mainly by dealers/partners and not general collectors like on this forum submitting them to NGCX so it wasnt intended to replace the other scale.