PCGS Or NGC For Large Cents?

ANACS is running a special this month that applies to large cents. IMO they are just as solid in getting to a technical grade on early coppers and are probably best with varieties in general. If you are looking to get them slabbed for safety/preservation and save a few bucks, it worth considering.

If this is about potential resale $, PCGS overall seems to pull a tad more weight that NGC in the market from what folks say. (Not something I have the time or will to go prove)

My personal opinion and experience is that the early coppers are kinda open to all sorts of interpretation. Strike quality and how the various TPG account for the rampant corrosion have always been issues in producing consistent labels on the slabbed coins, what gets a details vs what gets a net grade vs what is simply accepted as market acceptable. I question the numerical grades all the time when I see these in slabs. Lots of moments of "huh?" and "ok, if you say so" and "if the one to the right got a F12, how is that one only a VG8?, etc.

Might be one of the reasons why many of the dealers that focus on the early coppers have their tables full of inventory just in flips or old paper envelopes. Submissions on these is an expensive way to prove a crapshoot.

For what it's worth, I've read that, as a general rule, PCGS is better for North American coins whereas NGC is a better choice for non US coinage (Europe, Asia, Latin America). I've no idea if there's any truth to that, but when I wanted to slab some LMU gold received through inheritance, this was a popular notion.