Businesses will do whatever it takes to succeed.

Let's first go over a little history. The first important grading standard was Brown & Dunn, that was followed by Photograde and then the American Numismatic Society published its grading standards. Overall these three standards were very comparable (some could argue that there were inconsistencies). Anyway the ANA grading reference has become "THE" grading standard for U.S. coins. So when the ANA formed the first major 3rd party grading firm (ANACS) it was only logical that they be considered the top tier grading organization. And believe me I sent all coins to them for certification. Who in the world could best apply ANA grading standing standards then the ANA itself? Isn't this only logical?

Then along came the NGC and PCGS and before you know it all the dealers and many of their followers are saying they are in fact the top tier 3rd party graders and can do a better job of applying ANA standards than the ANA. This upset the heck out of me. And how can this be possible. In my opinion it simply came down to payola. Dealers made money submitting coins to NGC or PCGS (they do not have to pay the published rates we pay when submitting coins) and they get the opportunity to charge service fees for preparing the coins for submittal. I could submit my coins directly to ANACS. So who are the dealers going to support? They are going to push the companies that give them an opportunity to make money, those being NGC & PCGS.

Now on a very infrequent basis I visit a Burlington area dealer to buy submittal flips. This dealer does advertise himself as being both an NGC and PCGS related dealer. Each time he asked me who I was going to submit my coins to and I said NGC. Here is what happened next.

1st time - He recommended I use PCGS because he "heard" that there had been reports some time ago that NGC had become very sloppy and over grading when they hired some graders with questionable capabilities but he also heard that they maybe correcting this problem. But this problem had turned many dealers against NGC.

2nd time - Before he was able to start his spiel I said I was submitting ancients and NGC is the only game in town. His response was how long have they been grading ancients? And he advertises himself as an NGC submitter!

3rd time - He recommended I use PCGS because (now are you ready for this) NGC has a reputation for under grading! (Please see #1 above). I just smiled bought the flips and left.

After my third visit I started to think about what was going on here. First he could not get his story straight, but it was months between visits thus he did not remember me and had no idea he contradicted himself. He didn't even know what services NGC provides but that is beside the point. Then it hit me. I can bypass the dealer and submit directly to NGC. He has lost an opportunity to make money (sound like what happened to ANACS?) so what does a dealer do? You give the customer a reason to use a product that requires you to use a dealer while at the same time providing reasons why the customer's desired product may not really be as good as the dealer's supplied product.

Look it I have certified coins from both PCGS and NGC. I have been disappointed with coins grade by both firms and more than pleased with coins graded by both firms. Based on my personal experience they are both excellent firms and can I say one is better than the other? Absolutely not. I am with NGC because being a member of the ANA I can submit directly to NGC without paying for any membership fee. For me it comes down to cost and for dealers it comes to profit. The common factor - MONEY