Professional Coin Grading Service

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The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is a third-party appraisal service for grading rare coins. It determines the condition and authenticity of each coin it grades to provide consumers with an independent knowledgeable rating on which to judge the coin. It was founded in 1986, and is located in Newport Beach, CA.

On August 17, 1990 the FTC issued a press release regarding PCGS. “FTC CHARGES COIN CERTIFICATION CO. MISREPRESENTS OBJECTIVITY OF ITS COIN GRADING SERVICES; COMPANY AGREES TO SETTLEMENT” The FTC charged that “PCGS misled consumers by falsely claiming that it provides consistent, objective grading of coins and that investment in PCGS-certified rare coins eliminates all the risk associated with the grading of coins.” PCGS/David Hall was charged and placed on probation for 2 years. Civil Action No. 90-1982, www.ftc.gov, New York Times, 8/17/90 The Wall Street Journal, 8/17/1990

In 2003 Coin World conducted an investigation of PCGS, NGC and ANACS, three of the leading grading services. In this investigation, several coins were sent to each grading service. In not one single case did the grading services agree on the grade of any given coin, and in some cases the difference in grading was seven points off. It is standard in U.S. numismatics to grade coins on a point-scale from 1 (poor) to 70 (perfect).