Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASADQ: CLCT), announces the unveiling of a completely new version of its popular web site, www.pcgs.com. With 3 million page views each month, PCGS.com is one of the most-visited web sites in the entire numismatic field.

The new site represents more than just a face lift. Its cleaner feel and more logical arrangement of links and information make navigation much easier than in the past. “It shouldn’t take regular visitors long to adjust to the new site,” said PCGS President Don Willis. “We’ve designed it to be less cluttered and more intuitive, making it easier for both frequent and newer visitors to find the information they’re looking for.”

With ease of use in mind, PCGS has eliminated the left-side menu and made the most frequently used pages accessible via the main menu bar at the top. The buttons link directly to PCGS Home, Services, Price Guide, Set Registry, PCGS CoinFacts, Resources, PCGS Store and About PCGS.

Underneath these choices, PCGS offers a weekly video and a Product Spotlight to highlight new products and services and provide a snapshot of “What’s New” at PCGS and in the coin industry.

Beneath these features, the user is given the opportunity to navigate by topic. For example, on the far left, new collectors are encouraged to Take the First Step. Under this heading, there are links to everything they need to get started in coin collecting: a New to Coins link takes them directly to the newly updated Start Here page, and links to vital information like why you should have your coins graded and how to obtain ballpark pricing from the PCGS Price Guide.

The last link in that group is to a new PCGS service that will make it immeasurably easier for new collectors to ascertain ballpark values for their coins. “We feel this could be one of the most useful tools ever developed for obtaining coin values,” Don Willis explained. “Once new collectors use CoinFacts to determine what they coin have, they can go to our Online Photograde^™ to at least get an approximate grade.” (more…)

New features and more than 2,500 additional high-quality coin photos have been added to the all-new PCGS CoinFacts® (www.PCGSCoinFacts.com) since the enhanced web site was launched on July 27. A division of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), the site is the Internet’s most comprehensive, one-stop source for historical U.S. numismatic information.

“We’re adding about 250 superb-quality PCGS TrueView images of high-grade coins every week. We’re all very pleased about the response by the collecting and dealing community to the huge expansion of the site,” said Ron Guth, PCGS CoinFacts President.

“In addition to all the photos, we’re also adding new findings and narratives about particular coins written by members of the PCGS CoinFacts Board of Experts, including PCGS Co-Founder, David Hall. It‘s a way for disseminating the accumulated knowledge of veteran numismatists as well as quickly getting out information about new discoveries and new varieties.”

A multi-functional combination of numismatic encyclopedia, historical price guide and reference resources, PCGS CoinFacts is the most extensive repository on the Internet for information about nearly 30,000 United States coins.

Guth explained that the high-quality images help collectors and dealers immediately discern differences in coin varieties, such as large and small dates or lettering. (The accompanying close-up comparison illustration of four varieties of 1823-dated Capped Bust half dollars is an example of the educational convenience and photographic clarity available with PCGS CoinFacts.)
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