Grading ?

There are four third-party grading companies which are considered reputable: PCGS, NGC, ANACS, and ICG. Any others are a waste of time and money. An informative article on grading services may be found here: http://rg.ancients.info/guide/slabs.html . Links to each service are found in the article.

One needs to be a member of the top-rated ("top-tier") PCGS Collector's Club (lowest level of membership is $50) or find a PCGS dealer to submit a coin to PCGS; cost varies from $15 to $50 or more per coin, not a cheap proposition. Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) also requires membership in its Collectors' Society ($99) or dealer participation in order to submit coins. ANACS does not require membership, costs less, and has faster service. I am not familiar enough with ICG to state its requirements.

In any instance, grading is an expensive and lengthy proposition and probably is not worth it for more common coins.

We can, and have discussed grading services at great length in this forum. The usefulness of such services is often open to question.

Well, the CWT wouldn't necessarily increase in value if it was graded, but you might get a better idea of its value once it is graded and encapsulated ("slabbed") by a reputable third-party grading service ( TPG). As mentioned in another thread, however, many/most CWTs are worth between $7 and $25 and it might not be worth it to spend $15, $30, or $50 to have a CWT slabbed since you would not recover the grading cost during the sale of the token although chances are you would receive somewhat more for the slabbed coin than for one which has not been graded. There are exceptions (there are always exceptions) and certain CWTs have considerably more value than others, so might be worth having professionally graded. I am not a CWT authority, so can't point you in the right direction for more information; you might want to try a Google search on Civil War Tokens.

Fred

quote:

---

Originally posted by Susanlynn9
Personally, I recommend ANACS for grading. Their standards are stricter and they are much more consistent in their grading (in my opinion).

---

While this is true most of the time, PCGS and NGC command more money with all things being equal.

However, I would NOT suggest having your CWT graded. The costs would offset the value. While I primarily deal in certified coins, I do not recommend grading companies just for the sake of it.

The only coins that should be considered for slabbing are:

1. Key Dates of any series.
2. Commonly counterfeited coins.
3. Ultra rare coins.
4. Heavily altered coins.

Now most collectors know this, but with the advent of the online flea markets, many new collectors out there looking for a deal learn this lesson the hard way.
Spending $30 to slab a $7 coin is a tough lesson. Spending $30 to get your coin back in a body-bag because you could not tell that it had been cleaned, altered, or is a counterfeit is even worse.