NGC has unveiled the design of its newest holder at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money. The holder will be used for encapsulation of NGC-certified coins beginning late-August 2008. The most visually significant change is the incorporation of NGC’s EdgeView® design which suspends a coin within four prongs, allowing for clear view of the encased coin’s edge. This feature will be available for nearly all coin types 40mm and smaller.

The newest generation of NGC holder is made from the same preservation-grade materials as the holder developed by NGC to house the 200 most rare, unique and famous American coins in the Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection. The Smithsonian conducted rigorous materials analysis and testing to confirm the long-term safety of all of the components used in the manufacture of these holders, further verifying their inertness and stability.

Several state-of-the-art anti-counterfeiting features have been integrated into the holder’s design. These include a high security label incorporating microprinting, UV-light responsive watermarking and an embedded holographic layer. A second hologram is fused to the back of the holder and was developed with new methods that make it virtually impossible to reproduce.

“Our newest holder satisfies NGC’s combined objectives of exceptional visual display, security and long-term preservation,” comments Steve Eichenbaum, CEO of NGC. “To achieve this, we relied on technology that quite simply did not exist when the last generation of our holder was released in 2001. It is without question the most extensively tested and technologically advanced coin holder ever created.”

The complete NumisMedia FMV Price Guide is now available on NGC’s Web site. The price guide compiled and edited by NumisMedia is an independent report of prices for US coins offered by dealers to collectors. It will be available for free to all site users and updated monthly.

NumisMedia is a leading independent and impartial source for U.S. rare coin values. Since 2005, NumisMedia has served as the official price guide of NGC and the Collectors Society. NumisMedia provides comprehensive pricing available for US coins, including prices for the full range of AU and MS grades, as well as prices for a broad number of modern issues.

To see the price guide, click on the Census & Price Guide tab, select a coin type, and then select the NumisMedia Price Guide tab. [Note: Access requires a FREE Pass Key account, a Collectors Society account, or NGC Authorized Dealer account.]

“Collectors have come to expect the highest quality resources from NGC. Along these lines, we’re very pleased to provide pricing information from NumisMedia. As a truly independent source, NumisMedia is widely acclaimed for the accuracy of its unbiased report of US coin values. By making price information of this caliber more readily accessible, we can enhance the hobby for countless collectors,” said NGC Chairman, Mark Salzberg.

The price guide is part of a suite of collecting resources available on NGC’s Web site, including a coin encyclopedia and variety attribution guide. To access NumisMedia values and other site resources, a login account is required. NGC Authorized Dealers and Collectors Society members should use their existing account login information, and new members can quickly create a free Pass Key account. (more…)

A comprehensive population report of all the NGC-graded gold coins from the SS New York is now available. The SS New York operated a light cargo and passenger service between New Orleans and Galveston until it sank during a storm on September 7, 1846.

Coins recovered were conserved by Numismatic Conservation Services (NCS) and then certified by NGC. The newly released population report includes 297 gold coins representing a broad cross-section of coins used in commerce along Gulf of Mexico trade routes during the early nineteenth century.

Download: SS New York Graded Gold Coin Population Report (PDF)

Coins recovered from the SS New York are from Western Europe, South and Central America, and the United States. The US coins include several exemplary condition coins from southern mints.

For example, an 1845-D $2.50 graded NGC MS 64 is the highest graded example of this Dahlonega issue. Other notable examples include an 1844-D $5 NGC MS 63 PL, the only prooflike example of the date to be certified, and two 1844-O $10 NGC MS 63 pieces, tied as the two finest examples of the issue certified.

Read Full NGC Announcement