August 17, 2004
PNG & ICTA Announce Results of 2004
Grading Service Survey

(Pittsburgh, PA) – The Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) and the Industry Council For Tangible Assets (ICTA) have jointly released results of their second dealer’s survey of rare coin authentication and grading services.

• To see the survey results, CLICK HERE.

Survey respondents were asked for their professional opinions to evaluate eight grading services based on 12 different weighted criteria, such as grading and authentication accuracy. Each category was ranked by the respondents on a ten-point scale ranging from the lowest, Unacceptable, to the highest, Outstanding.

The final tally lists no grading service as “Outstanding."

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America (NGC) of Sarasota, Florida and Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) of Newport Beach, California were rated, "Superior." ANACS of Dublin, Ohio and Independent Coin Grading Company (ICG) of Englewood, Colorado were ranked "Average."

PCI, Inc. (PCI) of Rossville, Georgia and Sovereign Entities Grading Service (SEGS) of Chattanooga, Tennessee were listed as "Poor." ASA-Accugrade, Inc. (ACG) of Longwood, Florida and Numistrust Corporation (NTC) of Boca Raton, Florida were listed as "Unacceptable."

"We conducted a second survey as a continuing response to hobbyists’ concerns about perceived wide variances in the grading standards between different rare coin certification services," said Robert Brueggeman, PNG Executive Director.

"As in 2002, these 2004 survey results are being published solely as a service to the numismatic marketplace. The results do not necessarily reflect the views of PNG, ICTA or any particular PNG or ICTA member with respect to any particular grading service or services."

Steve Ivy, PNG President, commented: "This survey provides an incredibly valuable service to the collector community at large. In the past there was no way for the neophyte collector to effectively differentiate between the wide varieties of grading services, several of which used grading standards that the industry as a whole found unacceptable. Alternatively, the survey provides a valuable service to the grading companies themselves because it provides a yardstick by which they can make policy changes and measure improvement."

PNG and ICTA distributed 521 surveys to its full-time professional members on July 8, 2004, but did not send duplicate surveys to people who belong to both organizations. Respondents sent their completed surveys to the certified public accounting firm, BiggsKofford, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A total of 172 qualified and verified surveys were tabulated by the CPA firm. The 2002 survey had 151 verified responses.

ICTA Chairman, Todd L. Imhof, said results of the first PNG and ICTA grading services survey generated considerable interest among both collectors and dealers.

"ICTA's Board of Directors agreed that regular, follow-up surveys are important to keep the data up-to-date and be a true, current reflection of the opinions of our professional dealer members. We are pleased that almost 45 percent of our membership responded this latest survey; an extremely high response rate for a mail-in survey. I believe it sends a strong message that professional coin dealers really care that novice collectors and investors understand the importance of accurate grading and the differences in liquidity of coins graded by the various certification companies," Imhof stated.

"I believe the opinions of PNG and ICTA professional dealers about the issue of certified grading are invaluable to new collectors," said Barry Stuppler, Chairman of the PNG Consumer Protection Committee. "Many new numismatists don’t understand that the quality of certified MS-65 coins may not be alike. The survey also shows that some grading companies apparently do not have the same ability as other companies to detect altered, repaired, damaged, cleaned or counterfeit coins."

In the latest survey, participants were asked to rate the eight grading services in these twelve categories with weighting factors (in parenthesis) disclosed in advance to survey participants:

• Accuracy of grading Mint State-60 and Proof-60 or higher (15%). 
• Accuracy of grading About Good-3 to About Uncirculated-58 (15%). 
• Ability to detect altered, repaired, damaged, cleaned or counterfeit coins (15%).
• Accuracy of all attributions including color, surface, varieties and mint errors (10%).
• Accuracy of modern coin grading, 1965 to date (7%).
• Consistency of grading (7%).
• Grading guarantee (7%). .
• Marketplace acceptance and availability of pricing for coins certified by the company (7%).
• Customer services and products provided by phone, print or on the Internet (5%).
• Collector benefits provided, such as population reports, registries and educational information (5%).
• Quality and security of the company’s certified-coin holder (5%).
• Cost for certification services provided, considering price and turn-around time (2%). 

"Not all of the survey participants responded with respect to all eight grading services, and some did not respond with respect to all 12 criteria. Other responses were not counted because the participants responded affirmatively to PNG/ICTA's request that they disclose any ownership or other affiliations they might have with particular grading services, or because PNG was otherwise aware of an affiliation," explained Armen Vartian, PNG Legal Counsel.

All the original surveys are being held by the CPA firm, BiggsKofford.

For additional information, contact Robert Brueggeman, PNG Executive Director, 3950 Concordia Lane, Fallbrook, CA 92028. Phone: (760) 728-1300. Fax: (760) 728-8507. Web: www.PNGdealers.com. E-mail: info@PNGdealers.com.

Or, Eloise Ullman, ICTA Executive Director, P.O. Box 1365 Severna Park, MD 21146. Phone: (410) 626-7005. Fax: (410) 626-7007. Web: www.ictaonline.org. E-mail: eloiseullman@comcast.net