Collectors Corner^SM: The Collectibles Marketplace

Congratulations to Craig Eberhart from Los Alamos, NM, who has won a MS65 PCGS Secure Plus™ $20 Saint Gaudens.  Craig had the highest score out of the 35 people who participated in the PCGS Photograde™ grading contest in Orlando.  There was a three-way tie for first place with 8 out of 20 coins correctly graded.  Craig won because he received two bonus points for being a half point away from the correct grade on two coins.  The final breakdown was as follows:

The 20 coins and grades from the grading test were the following:

The response to the PCGS Grading Contest at the FUN convention was extremely positive.  Now, West Coast collectors have a chance to see who's the best grader and to win a Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle graded PCGS Secure Plus MS65.  The contest will be held at the upcoming Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo (www.LongBeachExpo.com), February 2 - 4, 2012, in the Long Beach, California Convention Center, 100 S. Pine Avenue.

We'll also have a special coin grading competition for young numismatists in high school and pre-high school categories, and the winner in each category will receive a PCGS-certified MS65 Morgan dollar.

Adult participants will have to grade 20 U.S. coins of random denominations and dates that have been previously certified by PCGS, but their holder inserts will not show the grade.  Young numismatists will grade 10 coins.  The winner will be the collector who has the most correct grades, "correct" defined as matching the PCGS grade exactly.  In case of a tie, bonus points will be awarded to any answer that is correct to within a half a grade to determine the winner.

The competition for adults will be conducted during the show's public hours on Thursday and Friday and until 2 p.m. Saturday at the PCGS booth (#807).  The young numismatists competition will take place on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The rules for the competition are as follows:

1. Adults must be current members of the PCGS Collectors Club or be PCGS Set Registry^SM members for at least a year with active sets.  Dealers are not eligible.
2. Adults will grade 20 coins.  Young numismatists will grade 10 coins.  There will be no "trick coins."  All coins will be genuine and all will have a numerical grade.  It is possible that some of the coins may be "plus" grades.  Contestants will have a maximum of 20 minutes to examine the coins and enter their grades.  THE CONTEST CLOSES SATURDAY, 2/4/12, AT 2 P.M.  The winners will be announced at that time.
3. The winner will be determined as the person having the most "correct" answers.  "Correct" is defined as matching the PCGS grade exactly.
4. In the event of a tie, the tied highest scores will be rescored and bonus points will be awarded for any grade that is within a half a point of the exact PCGS grade.  If there is still a tie, the tied highest scores will receive deduction points for any grade more than one point off the PCGS grade.  PCGS is the sole determiner of the winner of the contest.
5. The contest will held at the PCGS table at the Long Beach Expo Show.  Your scored grading contest form will be mailed to you.