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. Read the rest of this entry »
(Fallbrook, California) – Chinese-made counterfeit coins pose a significant financial threat to unsuspecting consumers, according to leaders of five of the country’s most influential rare coin organizations. They warn the public is spending millions of dollars on fake U.S. coins offered in online auctions and elsewhere, such as flea markets and swap meets.
This counterfeit 1916-D Winged Liberty Head dime was sold online. Photo credit: Numismatic Guaranty Corporation.
In a jointly-issued consumer advisory (below) the groups caution the public not to purchase any so-called "replica" coins because they may be in violation of federal law. They also urge consumers to only purchase genuine rare coins from reputable, professional dealers or face the risk of losing money on copies that are illegal to re-sell. Read the rest of this entry »
June 4: Four numismatic news or coin blog articles are referenced on CoinNews every Tuesday and Thursday. These articles are not authored by us, but we recommend coin collectors read them for their unusual or interesting content. Here are today’s coin articles:
Numismatic News
The American Flag gets the nod from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts for the reverse of the 2010 Lincoln Cent. The image’s strength and simplicity spoke to commission members, said Thomas Luebke, commission secretary…
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(Long Beach, California) – Leaders of five of the hobby and profession’s most influential organizations are launching a multi-pronged consumer awareness and protection campaign against counterfeit numismatic items sold and imported from China and elsewhere.
The organizations in alphabetical order are the American Numismatic Association (ANA), the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA), Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG).
Representatives of the five groups participated in a preliminary teleconference call on May 7, 2009, and then met in Long Beach, California on May 27 to discuss a coordinated plan of action. The groups recognize that counterfeiting can’t be completely stopped, but that efforts can be made to reduce the easy availability of fakes and to educate coin buyers about common sense ways to avoid unwittingly purchasing them. Read the rest of this entry »
Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) has enhanced its grading services with new security by photographing each coin it certifies, the company announced Monday. These images are stored in an online digital database that can be used to identify counterfeit coins and holders.
"This is an aggressive anti-counterfeiting measure. With a secure image repository, it is possible for us to provide real-time assurance that a coin is an authentic NGC-certified product, immediately and at any time of day or night," said Steve Eichenbaum, CEO, Numismatic Guarantee Corporation.
"In addition to providing the best possible holder for the long-term storage of coins, we are taking a serious step towards protecting the hobby."
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Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) announced on Wednesday the creation of a new division and a series of services for attributing and grading ancient coins that will kick-off on January 1, 2009.
David Vagi, author of Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, will lead the division entitled NGC Ancients, which NGC says will certify "most coins struck in the Western World through circa A.D. 500, as well as coins of the Byzantine Empire."
"I’m thrilled to join NGC at a critical moment in the growth of the ancient coin market. The marketplace and third-party grading have both matured in such a way to make an ancients program not only possible, but necessary," said Vagi, Grading Finalizer and Director of NGC Ancients.
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Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) said it will begin using its latest generation coin holder, featuring enhanced security features, on a wide-scale basis starting Wednesday. It will also discontinue use of its previous generation holder immediately "in order to maintain turnaround times."
NGC said its new exterior holder and new label will be used for all submissions. The EdgeView® Holder, however, is to be used only for US Walkthrough and US Express tier submissions and all World tier submissions until its full-scale release in early 2009.
"Our service commitment is to encapsulate coins in the most secure holder, made from the best materials available," comments NGC CEO, Steve Eichenbaum.
"This iterative release schedule allows us to expand the availability of the best holder in the most expedient and responsible way," continues Eichenbaum.
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Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) announced an innovative new coin holder at this year’s ANA World’s Fair of Money® in Baltimore.
The most significant visible improvement is NGC’s EdgeView® design that suspends a certified coin within prongs, much like a ring holds a diamond. The new technology enables clear viewing of the encased coin’s edge.
"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."
Several of the security and preservation features promoted for the new coin holders include:
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NGC has introduced a new online resource, the NGC Coin Encyclopedia. The resource includes both US and world coin designs and sports a click and drill down menu approach to finding coin information and their images. The interface also includes a quick search feature.
The detailed content was developed by the NGC Research Department. A nice aspect to the online encyclopedia is the amount of information provided for each coin and the nice bevy of large coin images.
When selecting a coin to get more information, the results page includes its obverse and reverse image. Each of these images can be enlarged with a simple click.
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Settlement from Francisco v. NGC Will Support Education
The American Numismatic Association has received a $447,095 donation to support educational programs and produce a much-needed consumer awareness booklet with helpful information on coin collecting.
The donation is from the settlement of a class action lawsuit, Francisco v. Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, concerning First Strikes designation. While admitting no wrongdoing or liability, NGC settled the case and discontinued the use of First Strikes, believing that controversy from the lawsuit would not be in the best interests of the hobby.
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