PCGS Announces Winners of Coin Grading Contest at the ANA, August 2012

By BJ Searls - August 14, 2012

(Philadelphia, PA) - Chris Sloan of Gaithersburg, Maryland is the winner of the coin grading competition in the adult division sponsored by PCGS Photograde™ Online which was conducted at the summer American Numismatic Association Convention. Chris scored 10 out of 20 correct grades.

He will be awarded a $20 Saint-Gaudens gold coin graded PCGS Secure Plus MS65 valued at $2,000. Each adult participant had 20 minutes each to grade 20 U.S. coins of random denominations and dates that were previously certified by PCGS, but without their PCGS grade visible in the holder.

Sixteen adults participated in the contest. The final breakdown was as follows:

Number of coins graded correctly	Number of contestants who achieved the score
10	1
8	1
7	3
5	1
4	6
3	3
2	1

Young Numismatist, John Siteman, receives his PCGS Secure Plus MS65 Morgan silver dollar.

John Siteman, 15, of Cole Harbour, Canada won for the young numismatist high school division and received a PCGS Secure Plus MS65 Morgan silver dollar at the show. Alex Hunsader, 13, of San Carlos, California won for the pre-high school division and will also receive a MS65 Morgan dollar. Six high school kids and thirteen pre-high school kids participated.

Due to the popularity of the coin grading competition, it has now become a permanent feature of the three-times-a-year Long Beach Expo, the summer ANA, and the FUN show in January. The next grading competition will be held during the Long Beach Expo, September 6 - 8, 2012.

Additional information and complete rules are available on the PCGS web site at www.pcgs.com/gradingcontest.html.

The 20 coins and grades from the adult grading contest were the following:

1921-S 1C MS63RB

1901 1C MS64RD

1963 50C PR66CA

1924 $20 MS64

1963 50C PR65DC

1932 $10 MS65

1887-S $1 MS62

1923 $1 MS64

1879-S $1 MS67

1910 $10 MS63

1947-D 25C MS64

1891-O $1 MS63

1901-S $10 MS63

1899 $5 MS64

1928 $2.50 MS63

1976 $1 Type 2 MS65

1913-S $10 AU55

1924 $20 MS66

1904 $20 MS64

1947 25C MS65

The ten coins and grades from the kids' contest were the following:

1946-S 25C MS65

1964 50C PR65CA

1978 $1 MS65

1893 $10 MS61

1927 $20 MS63

1932 $10 MS4

1962 50C MS64

1882-S $1 MS66

1881-S $1 MS61

1887 $1 MS65

BJ Searls is a graduate of Pepperdine University with a Master’s in Business Administration. She has been involved in numismatics since 1973 and has worked for Collectors Universe since 1997. BJ is the Set Registry and Special Projects Director for PCGS, PSA and PSA/DNA. Email: [email protected].

Grading