How do I get my coins Certified? Part 1
The process of getting your coins graded is rather straight forward, but there are some very important caveats to the process. In a nutshell, someone would decide which grading company to use, e.g. PCGS, NGC, CAC or ANACS, go to the perspective website and fill out a form. The coins are then packaged up and sent to the grading company per the shipping instructions on the submission form. After a time, your coins are returned to you in shiny new plastic “slabs” with a serial number printed on the slab. Legitimate grading companies keep track of all the coins they grade and incorporate that information into their population reports and certificate lookup databases. Please keep in mind that this is an overgeneralization of the process, and as the saying goes the “devil is in the details.”
Let’s look at the grading process in more detail and see if we can spot some devils.
Before you submit a coin for grading you have to decide if it is worth spending the money to get it graded. So, the question becomes; “Will grading increase the value of the coin enough to justify the grading and shipping fees?” As simple as this sounds, the coin market has many examples of graded coins that were not worth the grading and shipping fees that went into getting them graded. How does that happen? Two ways, really. One, hope springs eternal and two, the submitter failed to understand this conventional wisdom. There is a third reason, but we will touch on that later.
In the first camp, people are looking at a coin they have and then after doing crack research on the interweb, they have determined that the coin is worth a lot of money. They got this idea because they were looking at MS 67’s and not the VG 10 their coin is, and really do not understand grading. The other, is after doing the research they found they just do not know, and do not trust anyone, so they send it all in. This is especially true when someone inherits a collection. I have heard and seen instances when the family just sent every coin in Grandpas collection to the grading company at the cost of thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. The grading companies’ job is to grade coins. They do not concern themselves with your quest for unrealized treasure, so they happily take your money. I just went onto eBay and found an MS65 PCGS graded 1958-D Jefferson Nickel for sale for $14.99 with free shipping, yet the least expensive grading fee on the PCGS website is $17.00. That $17 precludes shipping and handling fees which takes the final cost significantly higher. In MS66 the coin would be worth about $50, and in MS67, the coin would be worth $750. One look at that coin from an experienced dealer would have saved that person a few dollars, but as I referenced earlier, there is no fix for the hope springing eternal part.
This is a very long-winded way of saying while anyone can submit coins to the grading companies, for those new to the coin grading process it is best to garner the help of an authorized dealer. So, step one in the process is try and make sure the coins you want to send in for grading are worth the time and expense. If you are new to coins let me embellish you with another one of my Armenizations: Everyone pays for an education in this hobby. Some of us pay more, some pay less (like those that read articles like this), but no one gets away without paying tuition. So, one of the most important steps for someone that is new to coins can take before sending them in for grading, is to get help from an expert, or submit coins for grading through an authorized dealer. An authorized dealer has to go through a vetting process to become an authorized dealer. And one of the first things we spend a lot of time on is sharing our opinions on what is, or is not, worth sending in for grading.