PSA apparently doesn't want to grade coins/pins anymore

[sflayank]

They raised the minimum price to $75
With extremely few exceptions, who is going to send in armour, salada,shirriff,or topps. coins
Customer service has no answer

[ALR-bishop]

I am not a graded collector but have a set of the three 1980 Topps test coins. I wonder if they would know what to make of or do with them.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by sflayank

They raised the minimum price to $75
With extremely few exceptions, who is going to send in armour, salada,shirriff,or topps. coins
Customer service has no answer

Hmmm, interesting development Larry. I have a number of pins and coins myself, but really don't care if they're graded or not, and have certainly never sent any in for grading.

So do you, or anybody out there, know which of the what I'll call the "Big Four" grading companies (PSA, SGC, CSG, & Beckett), also grade and encapsulate coins and/or pins then? In all my years of collecting pins and coins, I don't seem to remember seeing anyone besides PSA grading such items. And if not, the price increase may likely be due, at least in part, to the costs and efforts of them even bothering to acquire and stock the special slabs needed for all the different pins and coins they grade. Also, I can't imagine the number of pins and coins they do receive for grading is very significant, so the time and effort (and cost) required to keep staff around that even know much about them and how to truly authenticate and grade them, may be factoring in as well. Plus, we know all for-profit businesses operate to make money, and if there appears to be no other real competition out there, they can charge pretty much what they want then, and see who will still be willing to pay for it. Think about it, if you could make as much money, or even more, while doing less work, wouldn't you?

And does this price increase cover or seem to have any effect on pre-war items as well, like Sweet Caporal P2 Pins, PX7 Double Header Coins, or Sweet Caporal Domino Discs? Or is this price increase just for more modern, post-war pins and coins?

[sflayank]

All pins coins..post war pre war
Psa has the holders as they are pcgs....they've had coin holders much longer than card holders
Looks like they just don't want to bother anymore except for expensive ones

[todeen]

Originally Posted by sflayank

All pins coins..post war pre war

Psa has the holders as they are pcgs....they've had coin holders much longer than card holders

Looks like they just don't want to bother anymore except for expensive ones

this is my feeling with SGC prices for oversized. I should send my Wheaties and a couple exhibits in, but they are charging an exorbitant price for a hand cut card. And the extra black around the oversize is an eye sore!

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[nolemmings]

Disappointing and somewhat surprising. Although I have never submitted any, I collect the Px7 Domino disks. PSA's grading of those is all over the place and seemingly without guidelines, so I assumed they considered their grading fees to be just free money, since the holders were probably pretty standard even with the plastic gaskets they sometimes use.

There never have been qualifiers, to my knowledge, at least with the PX7s, which can be found off-centered and with stray marks and stains, and focus/registration can vary too so I just assumed it was an eye-test kinda thing that only appealed to registry collectors because it was in their DNA. Oh, and since they are very unlikely to be counterfeited and generally made of material that makes them somewhat less fragile than cards, I personally never saw much point in submitting them as a collector, but to each his own. Again, it just seemed like easy cash for PSA, who appears to have been the only game in town.

I confess I buy them because they look nice (I also have some Salada and Topps coins from the 60's-70s) and I hesitate to break them out because it may diminish their value in some collectors' eyes. While we're on the subject, how do you guys store and display your graded coins/disks? I have the plastic coin boxes literally made for them, but it is not very satisfactory from a display standpoint. Are there plastic sheets to hold them fairly snugly?

[Zach Wheat]

I guess that is not completely surprising. PSA seems to be gearing their production more towards grading in volume for modern cards rather than pre-war. Most of the pre-war cards I have submitted have taken a long time to go through their system.

[Exhibitman]

Well, I guess Cy and Eddie will just have to remain unslabbed




PSA's loss...

[BobC]

Originally Posted by sflayank

All pins coins..post war pre war
Psa has the holders as they are pcgs....they've had coin holders much longer than card holders
Looks like they just don't want to bother anymore except for expensive ones

Thanks Larry,

it definitely sounds like this is some kind if business decision to possibly cut costs, while raising income, for some things they otherwise don't make much money at. Kind of like when a chain store or restaurant may close down the unprofitable locations, after maybe having tried jacking prices up to make them more profitable first.

And since it seems no other TPGs are really grading pins or coins at all, what is a collector going to do, take all their business elsewhere?

[Shemp]

Capitalist system, no competitor..... sounds like a perfect jack up the price opportunity.

[sflayank]

I posted their response
Short of graders short of researchers short of sealers
Bottom line. GREED