After the price of the Morgan coins took a nosedive, I decided I wanted to test out bulk coin grading. I had been needing to do it for a while anyway since I was sitting on a bunch of these 19XE coins. I decided to go with PCGS mainly because they’re in CA (closer to WA) vs NGC (East Coast.) I won’t go into the difference between the two since I can only talk about my experience with PCGS.
Getting started
I called up PCGS and I told the CSR I wanted to do bulk grading (at least 100 coins, max of 5 different TYPES of coins.) The rep took down my info and later that afternoon, a bulk rep called me up who walked me through the steps and answered all my questions. If you go this route, I suggest you get a bulk rep as well. I had to fill out and send him a bulk agreement form.
I did have to become a PCGS member ($69 for basic.) Since I was doing BULK, the GOLD and PLAT tiers woulnd’t help me much. The higher tiers give you free grading vouchers for one-off coins (like gold coins.)
My rep told me it usually takes about 6 weeks for bulk grading, but it seemed to only take 4 weeks once they received my coins to when I got them back in hand.
Price
The cost to grade the coins in bulk was $14 and if you wanted the First Strike designation, there’d be an $18 fee. You can set a minimum grade of 69 (can’t go higher than this) and if the coin doesn’t at least score a 69, there is a $2 reject fee (instead of the $18.) Normal grading would run you $38 per coin by the way. You also have to pay for them to ship back to you and that price depends on the value you declared as well as the number of coins (I declared the mint MSRP instead of the graded street value by the way.)
Shipping
It’s on you to ship the coins to them. Since most carriers don’t insure coins, you have to get a 3rd party insurer. I had contacted one, but they didn’t get back to me in time, so I took the risk and sent the coins un-insured (DO NOT DO THIS!) If you do take this risk though, at least send it FEDEX OVERNIGHT (by the way, you can’t send it UPS to them) since OVERNIGHT is less risky than GROUND.
Grades
So each coin type is different. I had heard from others that these Morgans were tough and that only 66%-70% were scoring perfectly, and sure enough, that’s how mine came out too. I think the other 30% came back as 69’s and I had a few rejects.
Reselling
If you get an ungraded or a 69, they go for about the same price as UNGRADED COINS (which is looking around $170 shipped on Ebay right now.) Seems the perfect 70’s are goin for about $250 shipped, but once you factor in the cost of grading, there’s not much added profit to getting it graded.
Conclusion
So would I do this again? NO! There’s just too much hassle and time wasted in grading (as well as holding onto the coins to sell off.) Clearly, in this case, I would have just been better off selling the coins UNGRADED and not jumped through all these hoops. However, those 2019 21XE coins WERE WORTH GRADING, so each coin is different. Maybe stick to grading lower mintage coins and you’ll come out ahead.
Thanks for this write up vinh. I am holding on to three of those 2019 coins and have not gotten around to having them graded. I noticed that grading is available at certain of their shows. Have you heard anything one way or another about whether it’s better to send the coins for grading or make the trek to one of their shows?
I haven’t heard one way or another, but I did ask them about that. That’d save you on shipping it TO THEM. They said it takes 2-3 days, so come the first day and hope it’s ready by end of show. Else they’ll ship you the coins.
sold yours yet? have 1 left and looking for highest bidder. Thanks
Thanks—I have been debating whether or not to get my (single) set graded, but now I think I will just sell it in the original box.
For ebay sales, are there any special precautions you take for selling these high-value items? (I mean, to try to avoid getting ripped off by the buyer?) TIA
Yeah in hindsight, I’d just sell the Morgans ungraded.
As for ebay, I’ve been told anecdotally that coin buyers are either collectors or coin dealers and less likely to scam you than electronics, so follow the Ebay rules and you’ll be fine.