PCGS Currency Changes Hands

Since this is currency related I figured it should be posted here...

Effective February 4, 2009, PCGS Currency is no longer a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. The PCGS Currency division has been sold to a new company led by current management, including Jason W. Bradford, President, and Laura A. Kessler, Vice President.

PCGS Currency will continue to operate out of their current Newport Beach location, and clients are advised that all contact information and shipping info remains the same as before. Submissions that are currently in-house will be graded and shipped as scheduled.
PCGS Currency will retain its website, population report data, Currency Set Registry program, as well as manage and maintain the Currency Message Boards.

"This is an exciting and important step for our company," said Bradford, who will continue in his roles as PCGS Currency President and lead grader and finalizer. "We have passed the start-up stage of our business, and are now entering into an exciting time of growth that we feel can be managed better outside the confines of a publicly traded company. By moving our business to a private enterprise organization, we can take advantage of increased efficiencies and reduced overhead to provide better and faster service to our clients."

"The company has not changed, despite the transition in ownership," added Kessler, who will continue in her duties as Vice President of PCGS Currency and will continue to develop new and existing clients and services. "The grading standards have not changed and will not change, and our commitment to providing a consistent impartial opinion with integrity will only continue. PCGS Currency remains a name that collectors and dealers can trust implicitly."

"Since our founding four years ago, Collectors Universe has been instrumental in providing our start-up capital making the effort to get our business launched from the ground up," continued Bradford. "Our association with Professional Coin Grading Service has been invaluable to our marketing efforts, and we will continue that association going forward as we are retaining the PCGS Currency name. We will work with PCGS to continue our cross-marketing efforts with both coin and currency collectors to enhance our market penetration."

"The transition to a private company will help us more quickly adapt and expand our services to clients, and will enable us to meet customer demand more quickly and efficiently," said Kessler. We will focus our energies on speeding up turnaround times, continuing to develop new ways for our clients to market their PCGS Currency-graded notes, and introducing new services and new Set Registry sets for collectors."