Beginning today,Tuesday, May 25, 2010, all eligible coins submitted to NGC for grading will be reviewed for the Plus Designation (+). NGC assigns a to coins at the high end of their assigned grade, approaching the quality requirements for the next grade. In addition to their superior technical merit, coins receiving a must have above-average eye appeal.

NGC assigns the + only to United States coins issued from 1792 to 1964, and the is available in combination with all grades from XF45 to MS68, inclusive. Coins submitted to NGC under applicable grading tiers including Economy, EarlyBird, Gold Rush, Specialty Gold, Express and WalkThrough tiers are automatically examined for + during grading, and there is no additional fee or special service request.

All coins submitted for on-site grading at tradeshows and other events are also considered for + at time of grading. The first on-site event where NGC will evaluate all coins during grading for the Plus Designation is the Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Expo, where on-site grading will be offered June 2 through June 4, 2010.

Coins already certified by NGC must be submitted for regrade using one of the above mentioned grading tiers to be evaluated for + . Crossover submissions at applicable grading tier levels are also reviewed for + during grading. More detailed information concerning submission requirements and answers to frequently asked questions can be found on NGC’s website at www.ngccoin.com/plus.

“We have been overwhelmed by the flood of support and enthusiasm for the launch of the NGC plus designation. For a number of years, collectors and dealers have wanted NGC to recognize premium quality-grade coins because our unique capabilities allow us to distinguish these differences with accuracy and consistency – providing credibility and consumer confidence to this segment of the market,” comments Mark Salzberg, NGC chairman and grading finalizer. (more…)

David Lisot, Executive Producer of Coin Television has put together a montage of comments from industry leaders following the PCGS announcement of its New Secure + coin grading service

The PCGS Secure Plus process uses laser scanning to help detect coins that have been artificially enhanced since their last certification, combat “gradeflation” and excessive resubmissions of the same coins, and can also be used to help identify recovered stolen coins. Additionally, PCGS graders can now designate deserving, superior-quality coins as “Plus” within their respective grades, an important distinction when there are big differences in value between one grade point and the next.

The following industry professionals are included in this video as follows:

• Don Willis – President of PCGS
• David Hall – Founder of PCGS
• Steve Deeds – President of Bowers and Merena Inc.
• Jim Halperin – Co-Chairman of Heritage Auction Galleries
• Ira Goldberg – Goldberg Rare Coins
• John Feigenbaum – President, David Lawrence Rare Coins
• Mark Salzberg – Chairman, NGC
• Charmy Harker – The Penny Lady
• Tim Carrol – Numismatic Financial Corp
• Jeff Garrett – President, Mid American Rare Coin Gallery
• Mike Bianco – Mike Bianco Rare Coins

Video used with permission and courtesy of CoinTelevision.com and CoinVideo.com.

Every year I write a letter to all NGC submitters to describe what’s happening at NGC. Communication is a very important part of what we do — we see NGC as being directly responsive to the wants and needs of the numismatic community. In no small part, it’s because of this responsiveness that NGC has grown to become the largest rare coin certification company in the world. In fact, we are literally only days away from certifying our 20 millionth coin!

Before I get ahead of myself, I’d like to look back at 2009. We did so many things last year that I’m just going to get to it…

On January 1, 2009, we formally launched NGC Ancients, a grading division focused on coinage of the ancient world. David Vagi, an extraordinary numismatist, joined us to head this effort. Our goal is to provide independent expert evaluations for ancient coins, just as we do for coinage of the modern era. The precise grading system and encapsulation are both game-changing innovations in ancient numismatics, but I’m particularly proud of what it says about NGC. Now, we can provide our industry-leading services for the broadest range of coins, tokens and medals. We do this by having more and better experts than anyone, all under one roof and collaborating to continually improve the quality and value of our services.

At the 2009 FUN Show we introduced the Scratch-Resistant EdgeView® Holder. Coated in the same UV-cured materials as eyeglass lenses, it provides an optically clear surface that is resistant to nicks and scuffs. We absorb the cost on this very expensive material because we believe it’s vitally important that your coins are always presented in the best possible way, whether you are offering them for sale or enjoying them in your home. If anyone is interested in having coins re-holdered in our scratch-resistant holder, just call customer service and they will be happy to take care of you.

We’ve also continued to upgrade and improve our Web site. Dealers will find an enhanced portal upon login, and all submitters have new, easy-to-use PDF submission forms. In April, we added a comprehensive library of grading articles to the Web site, one for every US coin type. Our coin grading guide, penned by NGC Research Director David W. Lange, is called From One to Seventy, and is certainly among the most readable and informative resources of its kind. But most significantly, we’ve upgraded our Online Verification tool. Now you can see images of every coin that was tier-graded after October 2008 by entering its certification number. We even have a mobile version so you can access these images on your cell phone! If you ever had a concern about buying a fake or bad NGC holder, you shouldn’t anymore. (more…)