What is UP with ANACS grading lately? [GSAs]

[Whitey1960-migration]

sent 3 GSAs to ANACS a few weeks back, all 3 proudly bearing NGC grade ribbons. Q: why the heck would I do this? A: to get three obscure VAM attributions for a VAM-freak client.

 

To get the formal attributions, I had to allow ANACS to grade the coins. I thought about putting a cross-over criterion of +1 on each coin, as an ANACS grade is less desirable than an NGC (IMHO). But my client already knew what the NGC grades were, so I simply asked ANACS to match the NGC grades and make the silly attributions.

 

To my astonishment, ANACS refused to match two of the three grades. Are you kidding?

 

To salt the wound further, ANACS made the VAM attributions and recorded them on the packing slip----so they could charge me the fee. and one of my VAM requests was wrong, so I got hit for a research fee, on top of the attribution fee, on top of the grading fee---on a coin they would not cross-over.

 

I wrote a pointed letter to one of their VPs (a very nice and helpful gentleman, by the way), expressing my irritation and disbelief. and I asked for the VAM fees to be refunded to me. so far, no refund.

 

 

 

 

[noow]

Sorry, but I do not see what ANACS did wrong. This is what I am seeing-

 

1. You send 3 NGC graded GSAs to ANACS.

2. You ask ANACS to match the grades.

3. ANACS refused to match 2 coins.

4. ANACS recorded the VAM on the rejects.

5. ANACS charged you the attribution and (research fees) on all of the coins.

 

ANACS made the decision not to match two of the grades- apparently the NGC grades may have not been up to their standards; grading from inside a holder is more difficult for anyone. All the grading fees they charged were fair because they still had to grade the coins. If I want a MS63 and it comes back "cleaned", I have no right for a refund. ANACS, I believe, actually did a good job- they listed the VAM on the rejects, which I would not have expected. The research fees were required to find out the VAM- otherwise, it would have been a waste of fees to try to get a single VAM.

I understand what it feels like to get coins back ungraded, but that is just how it works.

[Whitey1960-migration]

I have a couple problems with ANACS here. The VAM charges are obvious.

 

Twice, I asked my contact at ANACS (VP--very knowledgeable) about changes of getting grade bump if I sent in NGC-graded GSAs. His reply was the same both times: small chance---maybe 1 in 50. Later, I asked him about the chances that ANACS would refuse to match an NGC grade on a GSA. Answer: same or slightly less likely than getting a bump.

 

hmmmmm. let's evaluate this: We send in 100 NGC-graded GSAs.

 

Statistically, expected number of grade bumps is 2 out of 100. and expected number of rejected matches is also 2 out of 100.

 

I got 2 out of 3 rejected.

 

Consensus among my coin circle is that ANACS has really toughened up their grading over past year or so. particularly on rarer and more valuable coins. This is fine, except they cannot erase their history that easily---and they cannot erase the valuation discount their slabs encounter in the real marketplace---compared to P and N.

 

So why on earth would anyone send ANACS anything to grade? You get a tougher evaluation that with NGC, and you get a slab the market will discount. Forget the ANACS-64, VAM 17Q on my 1884 GSA---I'll keep my NGC-65 with no formal attribution.

 

 

 

 

[noow]

It seems like you are very upset about your ANACS coins. Just because NGC graded them does not mean the grades are accurate, or match ANACS' standards. ANACS does relatively accurate grading and they do not require a membership.