Need Help Re. Grading Vs. Certification

IMO, certification and grading is the same thing. However, when you send it, you generally have to specify what variety it is. For example, if it's an 1869/9 IHC, you should specify whether you think it's S-3 or S-4, or other equivalent designation. I'm familiar with NGC. On their form, they have a section for it. Some varities don't cost extra, but others will cost $10 extra. Also make sure the TPG acknowledges the variety. Not every company acknowledges all the varieties.

On a side note, what coins do you have and what variety?

The submission form should have a box to check for attribution. Once paid for, your coin will be attributed as to variety. You might want to call or check online for what varieties are attributed for your series.

Thank you BH1964 and DavidZerbato. I woke up 4 am with it on my mind to post images. Hopefully later today.

Certification and grading are NOT the same thing, even when done by tpgs.

Certification was originally offered by ANACS back in the 70s. They rattled the tray until they collected $50,000 for equipment, and offered a service where they would determine if your coin was genuine, and return it to you with a two-sided detailed numbered photo. Copies of the photos were kept and compared to new submissions to find stolen coins and the like. A coin is either genuine, or it isn't.

Grading is a opinion of the state of preservation of a coin. Different services, and also different graders within a service, can disagree on the grade of a coin. It can also change over time, usually down, but often up, especially if "cracked out" and resubmitted until it gets the grade the owner wants. For this reason, the grading on slobbed coins is a crap shoot, and there are even services that regrade the coins graded by other tpgs.

Since authentication is a yes/no proposition, there very rarely is a disagreement among the experts. With 70 grading numbers, plus details like bell lines, steps, heads, proof-likes, cameos, weak strikes, etc, it's surprising that any coin ever gets the same grade twice (and many don't), but people have deluded themselves (with support from the tpgs) into thinking the grade on a piece of plastic is not only the word of gawd, but that it determines what they should pay for a coin.

So why get coins independently graded? Unless you have the reputation of someone like Rick Snow, it eliminates the I say, you say by providing a they say. And since all the authentication services now also provide grading at no extra charge, and most of them use "market grading" (a fancy term for overgrading in the seller's favor), there's no good reason to not have the coin graded. In fact, getting a coin authenticated only would raise questions about what is wrong with the coin that you felt a grade would hurt its value.

The coin you want to get graded (1997 cent) is nothing special. The coin is worth 1 cent.

It is a waste of $30 to $50 to send it in.