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FIVE REGISTRY ESSENTIALS FOR COIN DEALERS
WHAT EVERY DEALER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE
NGC AND PCGS REGISTRY PROGRAMS
by Scott Schechter
The NGC and PCGS Registries have been a part of coin collecting for about a decade, and their influence can easily be felt throughout the US coin market. Coins are routinely advertised as being “Registry Quality,” and collectors are quick to identify themselves as having the top Registry Set in a particular category. When a coin trades at auction for a surprisingly strong number, the obvious presumption is that two Registry collectors needed it. Nearly all articles written about the Registry are collector-oriented because, after all, collectors are the Registry’s primary users. At the same time, many dealers will confess that they don’t regularly look at the Registry, and other dealers will admit that they are only vaguely aware of how it works. But, when pressed, dealers will confide that they believe they should be more in touch with the Registry. As the first full-length feature focused entirely on the Registry in the Coin Dealer Newletter, this article describes the essential aspects of the Registry that can complement a dealer’s business and improve their customers’ experiences with coin collecting. Readers who are already familiar with the Registry are invited to jump ahead to the section titled Five Registry Essentials for Coin Dealers, while the Registry Fundamentals section will explain more to someone new the subject.
Registry Fundamentals
A first look at what the certified coin Registries are and how they work.
Both NGC and PCGS offer a Registry to their customers. For the purposes of this article, “Registry” refers collectively to the NGC and PCGS Registries. While there are many small differences, the general framework of both systems is very similar with one notable exception: the NGC Registry accepts both NGC- and PCGS-certified coins while the PCGS Set Registry allows PCGS coins only.
The Registry is simply a system that allows collectors to catalog and display their collections online. By entering a coin’s certification number, they can fill the appropriate spot in a set. Sets resemble coin albums with a space for each coin in a series, and they are pre-defined for the user. Most of the pre-defined Registry Sets follow traditional collecting paths. For example, there exists a complete 1916 to 1947 Walking Liberty Half Dollars set of all dates and major varieties, as well as a truncated 20-coin short-set that includes all coins from 1941 to 1947. The Proofs fall into their own 1936 to 1942 set.
For US coins alone, the Registry provides several hundred different set options for all series from Cents to Double Eagles, Colonials to Modern issues. Although the framework appears rigid, the system adapts equally well to those just starting out and to the most accomplished collectors. The structure of sets can equally well accommodate Type Sets, where a number of coins can be used to fill a spot, to Variety Sets, where only coins with special attributes are eligible. Once coins are entered into a set, the set receives a score. In this way, participation in the Registry is a competition. While the NGC and PCGS scoring systems are different, both Registries rank sets from highest to lowest based upon the grade of the constituent coins and degree of completion. The highest point value is the highest ranking set within a category. A serious collector participating in the Registry endeavors to have the #1 set in a category. Every year a competition is held, with the best sets in every category receiving recognition. A panel of judges chooses the very best sets for specific awards. In addition to awards for best sets based on grade and completion, awards for the best presented sets are also given to those with noteworthy images and descriptions of their coins. Having described its basic features, let’s take a look at a few ways that coin dealers can use the Registry to complement their
Five Registry Essentials for Coin Dealers
1. Hobnob with top collectors: The Registry is home to the most qualified buyers in the industry.
The Registry is huge – much larger than most dealers realize. Dealers who are not attentive to the Registry can be shocked to find unexpected depth and quality among the collections listed within their specialty of interest. To give some sense of its scale, consider that over 95,000 individual sets are registered to approximately 10,000 different collectors. These figures represent the combined value of NGC and PCGS Registry users. The Registry programs are similar in size, but NGC’s is about 25% larger in terms of participation and number of sets.
The top sets in the Registry are important collections assembled by serious, devoted collectors. Receiving recognition is not easy. The sheer number of sets registered and the number of collectors who take the Registry seriously dictates that competition for a top spot will be fearsome. In every category of regular issue US coinage, the top Registry Sets are very important collections of their kind, and in a number of cases they rival the most important collections of that series ever assembled. But not all collections are top ranked; there are hundreds of sets in popular categories that are either incomplete or comprised of collector grade examples. For every coin in your inventory, there’s probably a collector who needs it.
2. Be in the know: Understand how the Registry influences prices.
The Registry does a better job of quantifying the demand for a particular coin than just about any other tool available to the rare coin dealer. The math is very simple. If there is a low population certified coin that a number of Registry participants need, it’s worth more than if the top players already have it. The converse is also true. If the top three Registry Sets already include an example of a particular coin, even if its population is four, the coin may not be worth as much as other “pop 4” coins have traded for since there won’t be as much interest among the top collectors. Because Twentieth Century series coins with low populations are worth many thousands of dollars, these factors can play a major role in determining true market value. Knowing the Registry demand for a particular coin will help any dealer avoid costly mistakes when buying, selling or advising a customer.
3. Promote yourself: Using the Registry is a great way to gain visibility in the collector community.
If you are a specialist in a particular series, the Registry is a great way to get noticed. For example, when collectors post in a coin’s description, “Thanks to Dealer XYZ,” that company is immediately identified as a source for like material. Allowing a collector to use your images emblazoned with a “Courtesy of Dealer XYZ” is another way to get recognized. When it comes to selling a top set, it’s worth taking the step to make sure it’s properly catalogued in the Registry. This will get you and the collection recognized. Plus, top sets are archived as past award winners, and they will remain visible on the Registry websites. Best of all, because the Registry is free, this is a very cheap way to get your name out there.
If you have a print advertisement or banner ad campaign, mentioning that you are selling the #3 Registry Set in a particular Registry category, for example, is an easy way to draw the attention of collectors and establish immediate credibility for the offering. All the participants in that category will want to look at the offering if some of its pieces can better their own set. It will also give collectors a glimpse at how you sell the type of coins that they own.
Like all dealer essentials listed here, there is much more that can be said about this topic, but it’s important to keep a few caveats in mind. The Registry is primarily a place for collectors to showcase their collections – of which they are rightly very proud. Simply listing inventory online is not appreciated, especially when it usurps the place of a collector who has been building a set for a long time. Spamming the Registry with “For Sale” signs and prices is similarly in bad taste. Use a delicate touch and common sense here, and it will be appreciated.
4. Contact collectors: Dealers may contact Registry participants directly.
In both the NGC and PCGS Registry systems, users can be contacted using built-in messaging features. Users do have the ability to disable this feature if they do not wish to receive unsolicited communication. This means that if you have a coin for sale that is a good candidate for a collector’s set, you can contact the set’s owner. Or, you can let collectors know if you’re offering coins from a top-ranked Registry Set within their particular category. If an individual has a particular coin that you need for a wantlist, you can even send the collector an offer to buy.
The same caveat as above applies here as well. Since the Registry is primarily a community building tool, it’s very important to avoid spamming or sending aggressive unsolicited emails. Rather than winning you new customers, it would be a big turnoff.
5. Stay relevant: Collectors expect dealers to know about the Registry. ,bR>
Your customers expect you to be Registry savvy. The Registry is the single best way for collectors to track their progress, maintain collection records and to share the joy of collecting. Dealers who work with collectors on Registry Sets can contribute very positively to their experience by reinforcing their goals and augmenting their sense of connection to the collecting community. But collectors know that using the Registry is a way for them to get recognized. When a collector tells a dealer that he is building such-and-such a set, he expects the dealer to know what that means. And it means a lot! It means that they are completing a particular collection at a certain grade level. It also becomes immediately clear to the dealer how much they’ve invested in their collection and how long they’ve been collecting (the Registry records when a particular coin was added to a set).
Dealers should also know the Registry collectors in their specialty. These collectors already know each other. Registry collectors will often communicate by email, meet up at conventions, and even trade coins amongst each other. It’s important that dealers play a role in this aspect of the Registries as well, not for the business opportunities, but for the community aspects. The Registry is a social network of collectors, no different from coin clubs. Because of these relationships, it is firmly part of the fabric of the collecting experience, but collectors recognized this long before dealers.
Scott Schechter
Certified Collectibles Group
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
P.O. Box 4711 • Sarasota, FL 34230
sschechter@collectiblesgroup.com
Reprinted from the November 13, 2009 issue #9 of the CDN Monthly Supplement
This
article is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without express permission from
CDN publications. ©2010 CDN Inc.
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©2010
CDN Inc.