TPG For Authenticity Only?

Top three are PCGS, NGC, & ANACS. Anything else, you might as well skip.

If the coin(s) are a variety, I would send to ANACS.

If the coin(s) are a possible slider from 64 to 65 or 65 to 66, off to NGC.

If the coin(s) are a straight up grade, PCGS.

They do run a special in the fall. $10 per coin, ten coin minimum, and free shipping. There are coin value limits though.

Here is the ANACS links you will find useful:

http://www.anacs.com/contentPages/F...mitting.aspx

Submission form in PDF format.
http://www.anacs.com/contentPages/S...ionForm.aspx


Shipping rates:
http://www.anacs.com/contentPages/Shipping.aspx

Shipping Rates
Number of Coins U.S. Domestic Postage, Insurance, Packaging and Handling Rate Schedule
Declared Value (Please call for rates if over $100,000)
$0-$100 $101-$1k $1,001-$5k $5,001-$10k $10,001-$25k $25,001-$50k $50,001-$100k
1 -- 5 $19.00 $20.00 $25.00 $28.00 $30.00 $40.00 $50.00
6 -- 20 $23.00 $25.00 $28.00 $30.00 $35.00 $45.00 $60.00
21 -- 50 $25.00 $28.00 $30.00 $35.00 $40.00 $50.00 $65.00
51 -- 100 $30.00 $32.00 $35.00 $40.00 $45.00 $55.00 $70.00
101 -- 200 $35.00 $38.00 $40.00 $45.00 $47.00 $60.00 $75.00
201 -- 300 $45.00 $45.00 $45.00 $47.00 $50.00 $70.00 $80.00

Unfortunately the hobby just doesn't have much interest in authentication only services. The last one was ANAAB run by the ANA and it closed its doors in November of 2002. It was so underused they couldn't keep staff on hand. One problem the companies that did do authentication only was that they charged the same for just authentication as they did for authentication and grading. If you had to pay the same either way, people went for the full package.

Thanks to all of you. This is exactly the information I was needing.

all the best, and Happy New Year ! clorox

TPGs are becoming big moneymakers and expanding their operations because of:

1) Upselling with silly designations (such as "First Strike", for which PCGS and NGC were sued over for deceptive business practices; as opposed to proper designations such as variety, etc.).

2) Speculators/resellers (as opposed to collectors) who put their faith in the resale value of the slabs rather than the coins themselves. Lots of people play the grading game where they'll re-submit the same coin until they get back the grade they want, and then turn around and sell it at a profit. There was also a grading blitz in the wake of the ASE 25th Anniversary set where people bought multiple sets, graded them, and re-sold the ones they didn't want to make a killing (and no offense to those here on the forum who did do this, but some of you [you know who you are!] were talking in terms of "maximum profit"; say what you want, but you're feeding the TPGs at this game :-) ).

In my opinion, TPGs should primarily serve one purpose: Authentication. Grading should be secondary. Silly designations that express no intrinsic attribute of the coin should be novelties.

collectors here in Greece are the same as Americans.Collectors who like and don't like.Many of my friends have their entire collection slabbed.Most of mine high grade coins are also slabbed.
You didn't get the point.Seems that almost everybody don't like slabs but send their coins in.
I like slabs a lot because I can buy coin sight unseen although I live in northern Greece many miles away from numismatic resources.Can anybody else show me a way to expand my collection in high grades without been fooled with problematic coins?

It's not about the grade but the problems that sellers hide with professional photos on online sales.It's easy for me to determine the grades and any defaults if I have the coin in hand but as I wrote above I am far away from any numismatic resources.I can only buy coins online.