Key Takeaways

• Coins are graded to determine authenticity and condition.
• Grading is only necessary if it will significantly increase the coin’s value.
• You have inherited or received coin(s) and plan to sell them.

If you’ve been around coin collecting for any length of time, you’ve undoubtedly encountered the notion of coin grading. Grading services like the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) have certified an enormous number of coins between them – NGC alone states it has graded more than 70 million since 1987, and both organizations are considered the gold standards for certifying the condition, rarity, and authenticity of collectible coins.

In some cases, the coins you acquire may already be graded by one of these services. However, the ones you buy without preexisting grades present an obvious question. When should your coins graded by the PCGS or NGC?

When to Grade and When to Pass Checklist

Gauge Your Coin’s Value On Your Own First

Before you engage one of the two grading services mentioned above, you should understand independently what your holdings are. Use Google, post on Reddit, or visit a local coin shop to find out information about your coin’s year/mintage, the location of its mint, the possibility that an error is present (and know which one(s)), and that all three of its surfaces – the obverse, the reverse and the edge – conform to the accepted design parameters of your coin.

The more you know about your coin before you send it to the NGC or PCGS, the better.

Make Sure the Coin Is Worth Paying for Grading

You should consider getting a coin graded if the potential value outweighs the cost of having the procedure done. Both NGC and PCGS price by the declared value of the coin and the turnaround you choose, so a common coin submitted at a high declared value costs more than a scarce one submitted at a low value.

You may also have to contend with a membership fee, depending on the level of service you want. Both organizations are for-profit entities, and they understandably give preference to customers willing to come further out of pocket.

Costs Associated with Grading

Here’s a breakdown of coin grading costs and ancillary fees, organized by service tier and for each major grading company (PCGS and NGC). These are estimates and we encourage you to look at the breakdown of information on the coin grading website.

Grading is priced by tier, and what sets the tier is the declared value of the coin and how quickly you want it back – not, despite how it is often described, the coin’s rarity. Each company publishes its own current schedule and both revise them periodically.

As rough orientation: most collector-grade submissions land somewhere between $20 and $80 per coin, with a per-submission handling fee and return shipping and insurance on top. Higher declared values and faster turnarounds cost substantially more, running into the hundreds per coin at the top tiers.

Both companies require a paid membership for direct submission, though you can submit through an authorised dealer instead. Check the fee schedules published by PCGS and NGC directly rather than relying on any third-party summary, including this one.

Getting a coin graded should not be an additional expense that lowers the aggregate value of your collection. You should expect that the appreciation in value yielded by the grading will be greater than its cost.

In other words, don’t bother with getting a coin graded if it only moves the price from $5 to $7. It is also worth knowing that a third-party grade is not the same thing as a certificate of authenticity: the grade is an independent assessment of condition and authenticity, sealed and guaranteed, while a certificate is usually just a seller’s assertion. Reserve your funds for those truly rare pieces that might go from good coins to great coins.

Related articles:

• What are graded coins?
• How coin grading works
• How much is a silver dollar worth?

Consider Grading if Counterfeits Are Common

The only time that you may want to get your coin(s) graded – even if the value may not support it – is if counterfeit versions of your coin are common; our list of the 20 most counterfeited American coins is a good place to check. Whatever you do, do not clean the coin first. If you discover that your coin is, indeed, a forgery, you may be able to pursue recourse from the seller or through the legal system. In particular, be wary if you receive the coins for free, either through an inheritance or gift. If the relative who bought them was not a sophisticated investor, there is a greater chance that they may have fallen victim to an unscrupulous coin dealer or, worse, another private entity.