ANACS Vs NGC And PCGS

My experience on that point, is based on cracking out slabbed PCGS coins and re-submitting them, raw back to PCGS, (hoping for an upgrade) and getting 80-90% of them body bagged (this was before they slabbed problem coins) heck they had already called them okay once, now they didn't cut the muster. I had one Morgan dollar, an 1885-CC, I sent in 6 different times trying for a MS65 grade. 4 times it was returned as cleaned, once it came back slabbed MS63, once MS64 when I finally decided to cut my losses and sold it to another friend of mine. He cracked it out of the MS64 PCGS holder and sent it to NGC and got the MS65 grade right away. - This was before the collector club programs (around 1999-2002) and when I submitted coins to PCGS it was through a large volume wholesale dealer/friend of mine in SoCal PCGS returned the coins to his office, not me, in fact PCGS had no records of me being the owner of the coins.

After the Collectors club stuff started and the registry sets (which I'm no real fan of, and see no value at all to the hobby other than bragging rights) I find PCGS to be a money hungry grading service, their current costs are out of line with their services and speed of order. But still, I'd rather have my coins in PCGS holders when I'm selling today, due to market perception, that may change in the future, I hope.

I personally use ANACS for my coins in my personal collection I want certified, variety confirmation and storage protection on. I don't find NGC, SEGS, ICG grading or variety attributions to be as consistent or accurate and PCGS won't even put a variety designation on many coins I have and if they did the cost is almost as much as the original grade.

Perhaps a dumb question: if one joins NGC's collector's club, one gets 5 free grading submissions in that first year of membership. Do they give another 5 the next year, or is that just a 'promotion' that could go away any time?

I'm hesitating between joining PCGS or NGC; I'm a bit angry with NGC ever since they mislabeled a submission I sent via a dealer not too long ago.
-SCS

Regardless of how they grade compared to any of the others-----and they all basically grade the same---its just that there is a perception that PCGS/NGC are better. I do not know who is most consistent- I've seen undergraded coins by all, I've seen overgraded coins by all.

My beef with ANACS is the HORRIBLE customer service. They do not ship out when they say- and they wont even answer emails. I have 20 some coins that are 10 days over due- and they still show in "grading" like they have since november 15th- its december 29th today. They were supposed to ship on december 20. NGC tracks them all on arrival, and they move through the system quickly and efficiently and you can always see exactly what is going on. So - ANACS- get it together- or you will always be the lesser than- to your bigger yet younger brothers. The word in business these days is "CUSTOMER SERVICE" and you have lots to learn. Your younger brothers are superior in every way with the way they track orders, the speed or processing them, and the response to emails- with anacs there is none.

The fees ANACS charges exactly reflect their buyer confidence factor relative to the big two - a fat discount.

The market obviously places higher values on PCGS and NGC coins. For someone looking to sell, it might be wise to use them. I prefer the NGC holders most, I like their look most.

I think ANACS is a great option for collectors primarily looking to attribute and safely store their collections. The majority of the ANACS coins I've seen in the last few years I find reasonably agreeable for grade. Pricing is much more affordable and they are the kings of attribution.

For disclosure, my collection has around 20 NGC coins, 3 PCGS, and 2 ANACS. I will soon be submitting my large cents and Morgan dollars, and plan to use ANACS.