Grading your coins

There are a wide variety of coin grading services and companies out there. This page will help you decide which company to select for your needs, which companies you can trust, and will help educate the novice collector about coin grading.

What is coin grading?

Coin grading is a term used to describe the physical condition of a coin. Many companies offer professional coin grading services; this is often reffered to as getting a coin certified. The grading house encapsulates the coin, verifies the authenticity, and marks it with a grade. It is also referred to as "slabbing" or "holdering" a coin.

Why should I have my coins professionally graded?

Having your coins professionally graded is a great way to have a solid and trusted opinion about the grade of a coin. If a reliable third party guarantees your coin is a certain grade, even the most crooked of coin dealers will have a hard time arguing with the grade (but they will!), and all you have left to argue about is the price.

Where should I have my coins graded?

There are FOUR trusted grading companies in the US. There are hundreds of other companies, but most of them are under qualified and will over grade (say a coin is better than it actually is). See more about this in Coin Scams»

Below are the four trusted grading companies in order of collector popularity and quality.

PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Society)
NGC
ANACS
ICG

Aren't all grading companies the same?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! If the grading company you are about to use is not on this list, you are probably wasting your money. For example, there is a grading company with a yellow tag, and EVERY coin I have ever seen has been MS 70 (Flawless). Grading services like this are crooked at best. Inflating the grade makes the coin appear more valuable to the novice collector, encourages over charging, and most importantly, severly damages the reputation, hobby, and business of numismatics.