Currency Grading Companies

One of the most important decisions a dealer or collector makes when deciding to purchase a $5,000 or $10,000 bill is which currency grading service to use. Back in the early years of the late 90’s and early 2000’s there were very few grading companies. Currency Grading Authentication (C.G.A.) and R.C.G.S. were a couple that come to mind. Both C.G.A. and R.C.G.S. have pretty much disappeared from today’s market.

Paper Money Guarantee (P.M.G.) and Professional Currency Grading Service (P.C.G.S.) are the two main grading services that over 95% of dealers and Collectors use today. Legacy Grading Services is a newer grading service that has been around for several years, but P.M.G. and P.C.G.S. are the two dominate grading services in today’s market. P.M.G. and P.C.G.S. started around the same time in late 2004 and early 2005. Before that C.G.A. and RCGS were the main players. I have provided links to both grading services for you to view and make your own decision.

Both grading companies work off the Sheldon scale of 1-70, same scale that the coin industry uses, with a 70 being perfect.

P.C.G.S.

P.C.G.S. first entered the currency grading market in 2005 under the name P.C.G.S. Currency. In 2009 they licensed the name to a third party firm. After the 10 years licensed agreement expired in Jan 2019, P.C.G.S. resumed paper money certification under the new name of P.C.G.S. Banknotes. P.C.G.S. is a division of Collectors Universe. P.C.G.S. uses the universally recognized Sheldon grading scale of 1-70 grading scale to evaluate notes for wear, centering, margins and eye appeal.

P.C.G.S. uses the P.P.Q. designation. Any note above Very Fine 30 can receive their P.P.Q. designation provided they meet the requirement of originality with no issues. Notes graded 65 or higher that maintain originality, are automatically awarded the Premium Paper Quality (P.P.Q.) designation.