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In Defense of NGC

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jackson64

1,027 views

A picture is worth 1000 words

Let me say first of all that I have had my issues with NGC. In a hobby where a subjective opinion (eye appeal is 1/4th of grade consideration) can mean the difference in a one point grade change and hence THOUSANDS of dollars, it can be quite frustrating when my taste or what appeals to my eye seems to differ from the graders. My coin comes back MS66 worth $400 and it looks like an MS67 $4000 coin to me. After a day of shrugging off the disappointment, I just live with it. I still have a coin that reflects my tastes and I probably wasn't gonna sell it anyhow, so why get worked up?

Bodybags...when I see my grades posted I'm always disappointed to get an ungraded coin sent back. The fact is, I paid for their professional opinion ( includes receiving & shipping clerks, warehouse people, coin handlers, computer personelle, secrataries and graders etc) if my coin does not meet the criteria for their quality standards, then it gets sent back with an explanation. I can honestly say that about 95-99% of the time they are right and saw something I missed. By the way, since I have bought a 20X loupe and bought a numismatic library to further educate myself on coins..I have had only 1 bodybag in the last 3 years !!

Quality Control....we live in an imperfect world and once in a while the flaws come our way. I'm amazed that with a company that encapsulates 100's of thousands of coins annually that they are as efficient as they are. We also must keep in mind who is ultimately at fault. NGC does not own a plastics shoppe. A lacking bevel or mis-sized label is an error in the production and QC of their supplier. If they had to visually inspect every slab and insert that was sent to them, we'd be lucky to get our coins back in 6 months !!

Professionalism...I have had 3 coins out of hundreds that had problems that were undoubtedly NGC's fault. One was a spelling error and the other 2 were foreign gold coins that had the wrong mintmark. I WENT TO THE PROPER FORUM..I called them and spoke with some thoroughly professional and apologetic individuals on the phone. The situation was rectified without costing me a penny..I simply mailed them back with a submission, they fixed the labels and re-holdered them without charge and mailed them back to me with my graded submission...

I know that many who write in the journals are relatively new collectors and I really enjoy reading your posts. The enthusiasm and joy at your new acquisitions is contagious and keeps my own personal passion for the hobby alive. If I may be so bold, a few suggestions?

an old, old saying in the hobby: Buy the book before you buy the coin. Measure the upside and downside of a coin before you submit...if a coin is likely to grade 68 or 69 and have a value of $25-30, why would you pay $15 to get it slabbed? You'd have to own it 20 years for that coin's value to jump to $45.

Also, I highly recommend to everyone to go to the NGC Chat Boards and ask questions. There are dozens of lifetime collectors who are always willing to advise and teach..many Big Auction dealers, owners of legendary collections and even former graders....the value of the knowledge they share can literally be seen in your collections value and the money you save avoiding common mistakes...

I hope nobody takes any offense from this, I enjoy all of you here in the community..I'd hate to see you get frustrated and give up on a hobby that you've enjoyed so much without first getting a different perspective....as always, Happy Hunting...

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