Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) has become the first third-party coin grading service to grade more than 40,000,000 coins.
NGC has been the industry leader for a number of years. It became the first third-party grading service to reach 20,000,000 coins graded (in 2010), the first to reach 25,000,000 coins graded (in 2012), the first to reach 30,000,000 coins graded (in 2014) and the first to reach 35,000,000 coins graded (in 2016).
International growth has been a major force behind these recent milestones. NGC now has international offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Munich as well as 13 Official Submission Centers around the world. In April, NGC will open its fourth international office in London.
Coins are graded full time at NGC’s 60,000-square-foot headquarters in Sarasota, Florida, USA, and at its 15,000-square-foot facility in Shanghai. In March, NGC will begin to offer periodic on-site grading in Munich.
NGC’s growth has also been propelled by its leadership position in the fields of modern coins, world coins, ancient coins, and tokens and medals, among others.
While the company’s locations and submissions have changed since it was founded in 1987, its philosophy and strategy have largely remained the same. For more than 30 years, NGC has delivered accurate and consistent grading with the highest level of integrity. Its grading is backed by the comprehensive NGC Guarantee of authenticity and grade – the strongest in the industry.
Every coin certified by NGC is encapsulated in its state-of-the-art holder, the same holder used by the Smithsonian Institution to preserve its most important rarities. The superior protection of the NGC holder, coupled with its expert and impartial grading and guarantee, has helped NGC to stand out year after year.
"It is a great honor – and a great responsibility – to have been entrusted by countless collectors and dealers around the world to grade their treasured coins and collections," says Mark Salzberg, NGC Chairman.
"We do not take this responsibility lightly and, as we grow, we continue to adhere to our founding fundamentals of accuracy, consistency and integrity."
The 40,000,000 coins that NGC has graded comprise some of the world’s greatest rarities, including:
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the finest 1787 Brasher Doubloon, graded NGC MS 63, which realized $4,582,500 at an auction in 2014;
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three 1913 Liberty Head Nickels, including an NGC PF 64 specimen that realized $3,737,500 at an auction in 2010;
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seven 1804 Dollars, including an NGC PF 62 example that sold for $3,737,500 in 2008;
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three of the four known Confederate Half Dollars, including the Eric P. Newman specimen, graded NGC PF 40, which sold for $960,000 in 2017;
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a Chinese 1992 Compass 1 Kilogram Gold 2000 Yuan, graded NGC PF 69 Ultra Cameo, that realized $1,290,000 at an auction in 2011;
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a Chinese 1911 Long Whisker Dragon Pattern Gold Dollar, graded NGC SP 63+, that is one of China’s most valuable coins;
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a rare 1344 English "Double Leopard," graded NGC MS 62, that is believed to be the most valuable English coin; and,
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a Korean Year 3 (1909) Gold 20 Won, graded NGC MS 64, that sold for $632,500 in 2011.
Learn more about NGC, its services and its benefits at NGCcoin.com (global site), ngccoin.cn (China), ngccoin.hk (Hong Kong) and ngccoin.de (Europe).
PCGS continues to dominate the coin slab market in terms of premiums for its graded coins. In 2016, the latest total figures we have, the top 20 coins by dollar amount sold at public auction were all holdered in PCGS slabs. NGC plays second fiddle.
-NumisdudeTX
35,000,000 coins in one year (2016)! Gotta wonder what kind of quality control over the graders they have – and how many graders to handle so many coins. Especially when there seems to be so little difference between a 69 and a 70 grade and from what I’ve heard they don’t tell you why your coin got the lower grade. Not sure if I want to trust this group.
No Jim, its 35 million total by 2016, 40 million total lifetime by 2018. So they are grading about 2.5 million a year.
From my understanding, coins are graded at a 5x magnification and those that grade are highly skilled individuals. I have both, PCGS and NGC slabbed coins, great for insurance purposes.
I always remember what I have been taught, you buy the coin not the label or the slab.
I am a fan of both companies.
Mouse
Anacs is what I use.
Mouse – I prefer PCGS for a few reasons (but purchase NGC sometimes if the coin & price looks right!). PCGS started in 1986 the whole industry of third-party authenticating/grading with the coins in sonically-sealed holders with a guarantee of grade & authenticity for life as long as slab is not tampered with. All other grading services copied them. ANACS at first didn’t have holders, just photo certificates for like 20 years & didn’t guarantee grade & authenticity for life Also, PCGS is the only third-party numismatic grader/authenticator that is a publicly owned stock corporation with full public disclosure of… Read more »
Seth – Thanks for the info – i think im gonna stick with PCGS – am a fan of full disclosure, shows professionalism and the highest standards.
Mouse
Mouse & Seth, Just my humble opinion, but I think it does make a big difference whether or not a company is publicly owned or privately held. In my long career in the various aspects of the logistics industry I have had occasions and opportunities to work for both kinds of businesses. From what I have observed by doing so, I am more than aware of the fact that some of the shadier and more underhanded behind-the-scenes practices and shenanigans that management can get away with at privately – and most especially family – owned businesses would never pass muster… Read more »
I have only graded 2 coins personally that i submitted at a show for the special labels. But if you want your Chinese coins graded i believe NGC is the only company doing that. I got one PF70 1oz silver Chinese show panda and 2017 1oz platinum eagle came back PF69. But i got the 20th anniversary early release at least. I like NGC because of the price and since i am a ANA member i can submit directly. But PCGS especially Platinum eagles deffinely sell at a premium i think because population report is lower. And some say artificially… Read more »
Adam –
PCGS grades all USA & foreign & ancient coins, plus all tokens, medals & paper money too. They have a club membership too you can join to submit numismatic items directly.
Sounds like you got two nice coin show items for sure!
Happy collecting Adam!
-NumisdudeTX
Adam – you are right on the money. Both NGC and PCGS grade large sums of coins annually. I am sure some of the big players submit mint strapped / unopened – labeled monster boxes for submission / and by doing so ensure they receive a plentiful supply of MS 70 coins to bring to market for a high premium on resale. Us small guys do not have that ability, so we roll the dice on each submission. Hugh premium / price difference between MS 69 and 70 for some coins. Would be nice to attend a coin show in… Read more »
Both PCGS & NGC charge much higher prices at coin shows to submit coins you want back before the show is over. But, if you have the money & want a “special” show label, go for it!
-NumisdudeTX
Wow, I, just received a rather comprehensive and helpfully informative mini-tutorial on the ins and outs and the do’s and don’ts of how and where to best get coins graded and slabbed. Many thanks, guys!
Seth Riesling and Mouse,
Do collectors of slabbed coins see and/or realize a tangible premium value in a special label beyond what the slabbed coin itself is worth worth according to its third party grading? Just curious.
Old Collector –
In my experiences & observations, “special”/”gimmick”/”kitsch” coin slab labels do not bring a premium when you go to sell to a coin dealer. But, if you find a collector who likes the label & needs it for their collection to have all the same type labels for uniformity, then you can get a small premium usually – maybe $5 to $10 extra per slabbed coin if you are lucky. You know how picky some collectors are! lol
-NumisdudeTX
Gary Lomax – Thanks for the 35,000,000/2016 clarification. Maybe I just read the article too quickly or that particular distinction didn’t jump out at me. After all the comments so far nobody seems to care that the graders don’t point out the flaws that lower their coin’s rating. I don’t slab my coins nor do I buy slabbed coins so most of this discussion is irrelevant to me anyway. I have heard in the past and Seth has reiterated that PCGS is more dependable in their ratings than anybody else is so if I were to buy or ask for… Read more »
Seth Riesling,
Many thanks for the illumination/explanation/clarification regarding specialty labels on slabbed coins; very informative replies like yours are always much appreciated.. Since I, like “jim” immediately above here, don’t have any occasion to deal with slabbed coins myself, this particular area of coin collecting is all quite unfamiliar territory for me. Furthermore, I maintain no opinion either way regarding the relative wisdom of slabbing or not slabbing coins; as with all other things that depend entirely on personal preference, and as far as I’m concerned this is just another each to her/his own type of issue.
Old Collector – The counterfeit coin market in the USA is scary to put it mildly! (mostly from highly deceptive, high-quality counterfeit coins made in China of a wide variety of U S. Mint “old, classic” & “new, modern” coins). Counterfeit coins made in China especially have become rampant in the past 10 years (they have always existed of course, but not in the large quantities seen now). The top third-party certification services offer a service where they do not grade the coin, but authenticate it as “Genuine” on the label & slab it as such at a lower fee… Read more »
Seth Riesling, Once again, sincere thanks for all the invaluable information; after all, it’s almost impossible to put a price on that sort of useful enlightenment. I had some inkling regarding the ongoing problem with Chinese counterfeits, but I most certainly had no idea of the true extent of the problem; it seems that those scoundrels are covering virtually all of the bases when it comes to their counterfeiting skullduggery! That they are engaged, and apparently on an unbelievably pervasive scale and so widely successfully in the making of both bullion and collector-grade coinage is troubling indeed, to put it… Read more »
I agree 100% with what Seth Riesling has said here, ever since the NGC Black Core Slab, they said that would ONLY be a limited edition, and ONLY serve just the American Silver Eagle coin and one or two others, N G C (the G standing for GREEDY instead of their Truth or Quality) Lied to the coin collecting world on that !!! Now I can go on & on about the real Lie’s and and Poor Quality within the NGC corp. But I will list list just a few here.Now I have and cannot sell NGC graded coins here… Read more »
Ron, Speaking of which (or speak of the devil, if that’s more applicable here), the from-the-get-go extremely specious so-called “article” up at the very beginning/top, the one that so emphatically goes on and on to herald NGC’s claims to an whole series of singularly glorious milestones and other spectacular achievements over the years – that is to say, the item that served to initiate this particular thread to begin with – is in point of fact nothing whatsoever of the sort. If that isn’t instead plainly and simply no more nor less an extremely-poorly-disguised blatant NGC company ADVERTISEMENT then I… Read more »
labeling all begin! To stop >fraudBS< that go,s with it.
Now there the frauds>BSSUCKERS<.
I should say this much ! Label co. , beside counter fit coins, they are helpful for coins that bring a higher payout, if your not quite sure what grade the coin is, but appears to be of a high grade, which doesn’t mean a grade of 70, for instance! Walking Liberty 1/2$, with the lowest mint*state & proof*grade of 60 & a good high grade of 67, ms, & 68, proof, makes coins world apart price wise, but you can agree on a raw coin that you know is of high grade, and they know its that high grade… Read more »
Joe Brown,
Great analysis. You pretty much covered all the bases on this one, not to mention providing food for further thought regarding the whole issue.
Thanks!
GRADING HAIKU
Plastic value, etched
promise, translucent seal of
approval…bark bark.