Professional Coin Grading Service

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

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 no 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.^{[citation needed]} It is standard in U.S. numismatics to grade coins on a point-scale from 1 (poor) to 70 (perfect).

In 1990 the FTC filed a civil action against PCGS alleging exaggerated advertising claims. PCGS did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to submit its advertising for review for a period of five years.

[edit] See also

• Coin collecting
• Currency

[edit] External links

• Professional Coin Grading Service
• New York Times Article on the 1990 FTC action