Coin Collecting News
Coins can be rare because the mintage is low, as in an 1894 Morgan dollar at 110,000. Or can be valuable because a specific year is rare in mint state, such as an 1884-S Morgan whose mintage is 3.2 million. More than a million of those were melted after the 1918 Pittman Act, and the [...]
Every now and then Coingrader Capsule has to return to basics, reminding sellers of coins–especially online sellers–about routine numismatic terms, especially associated with grades. In my personal blog, I routinely monitor coin auctioneers selling on the Internet portal Proxibid, paying special attention to photography and lot descriptions. Only a few auction houses (mostly coin dealers [...]
Last week NGC announced a special blue label, “First Releases,” for US and World coins received by the company or by an approved depository within the first 30 days of issue. The First Releases label was dubbed an alternative to the Early Releases label, which will remain the default designation on all submissions … unless [...]
Anyone who has submitted to one of the two major grading services has felt the letdown of lower than anticipated grades, perhaps wondering how the rival service might have evaluated the same coins–especially when those coins seem to possess deep mirrors. Coin Update News decided to test that, first by purchasing from a reputable dealer [...]
PCGS, typically considered the premier third party coin grading company, will maintain its current fee structure through 2012 in addition to making new Guarantee, World Coin, and Crossover service changes, President Don Willis announced Wednesday. In an email blast, Willis wrote: “Effective immediately all World coins graded through Secure Plus will be eligible for the [...]
Problems abound in the online coin trade, from excessive buyer’s fees and opening bids and reserves to misrepresentation and shoddy shipping. However, bidders can circumvent those travails by reading terms of service and gaining numismatic knowledge. When it comes to photography, however, bidders eager to score bargains often overlook the most fundamental component of any [...]
I send in to PCGS, NGC and ANACS dozens of coins each month for slabbing, selling those coins in a booth at a local antiques mall. Quite a bit of numismatic knowledge goes into selecting which coins to holder and which to offer “raw.” In this week’s Coingrader Capsule we’ll look at close calls, coins [...]
Changes in Genuine Service, Secure Plus, and World Coin submissions were announced Wednesday by PCGS President Don Willis, with some changes immediately effective and others going into effect on Nov. 15, 2011. This is the second major change in service that PCGS has made in the past four months. In June, the company added plus [...]
Many auctioneers and some dealers do not recognize obvious varieties of Morgan dollars, even though these coins command a premium–meaning you can cherrypick them and build a nifty collection at discount prices. We’re not talking about the gazillion VAM varieties. (“VAM” is an acronym for the authors of The Comprehensive Catalogue and Encyclopedia of U.S. [...]
In an earlier post, “Agreeing to Disagree on Grades,” I challenged two grades by NGC and PCGS, respectively–a 2000-W Library of Congress bimetallic $10 platinum and gold piece, graded MS69, and an 1879-S Morgan reverse of 78 crossover graded AU58. The bimetallic coin was proof, not mint state. The 1879-S coin had been in an [...]
