Forty years is a long time although, to me, it seems like yesterday that PCGS began grading coins in the spring of 1986. The 40th anniversary of PCGS is a time of reflection, as trying to remember how it all began is a mixture of personal memory and reading what others have written about the early days. Some things are absolute. The beginning of PCGS was a project to write a comprehensive coin encyclopedia. We not only wanted to "tell the coin story," but also felt that more accurate pricing was needed for many rarities.
Certainly, commonly traded coins were not the pricing problem. However, with certain issues such as No Motto Half Eagles and Eagles, we felt the pricing guides were inaccurate, especially for the higher grades. In fact, numerous coins that were priced did not even exist in the grades listed. For example, some coins were priced in uncirculated grades that did not exist in that condition.
The book project was tossed aside the night that David Hall brought the first "slab" into one of our coin show meetings. David, Gordon Wrubel, Bruce Amspacher, and I had been meeting at night in one of our hotel rooms after the coin show closed discussing our book project. David brought the first prototype slab to that meeting, a circulated Washington Quarter, and the four of us had a collective epiphany. David envisioned coin pictures on the wall, trading graded coins without physically having them in hand (sight-unseen bidding), and other benefits of third-party-graded and -encapsulated coins. That night, we all felt the revolution coming, although none of us realized how large the tsunami of third-party grading was going to be.
A little background might be interesting to those who are unfamiliar with the four of us who were the genesis of this company. Of course, David Hall needs no introduction - he is most well-known as the face of PCGS. David and I met in the 1970s and soon realized we had a lot in common besides coins. He had played in a band and was into music just as I was (he has a large record collection) and was an avid sports fan (yes, he is responsible for PSA and the card grading industry as well). However, my life as a coin dealer only came about after college when my father developed macular degeneration; he could no longer see the coins and enjoy collecting them. He asked me to sell his collection, and that led me to change professions from music to coins.
Gordon Wrubel also liked music and was in a doo wop group in his younger days. We all had common interests besides coins. Bruce Amspacher is the fourth member of this group and the least known. Bruce had been on the bowling team in college, along with first PCGS President Steve Mayer. I first met Bruce when we both worked for New England Rare Coin Galleries in the 1970s. I immediately liked Bruce, despite his chain-smoking of cigarettes! He was terrific at writing, which is one of my passions, too. I had written a few articles but in 1996 was the principal author of the PCGS Grading Guide. Bruce and I had different styles of writing, as I wrote quickly (still do) and would go back and edit what I had written. I often wrote so fast that I would leave out words! Bruce wrote one sentence at a time. He would craft each sentence until it was perfect. I saw him spend 20 minutes writing a particular sentence. Different strokes for different folks.
Sadly, Bruce passed away years ago, but he was an influence on all of us - he even came up with the company's name: Professional Coin Grading Service.
I am often asked what it was like in the early days of the company. I spent the first 10 years of PCGS traveling every other week from my then residence of Memphis to California to grade. It is easy to look at graded coins in holders and decide whether you consider them average, below average, or above average for the grade. Grading 1,000 to 1,200 raw coins per day is another story. In my youth, I had several manual labor jobs-loading poison onto an airplane in the sweltering heat of summer, mowing lawns, breaking up concrete in the tower of an electrical plant, hauling heavy glass panes up a ladder for a greenhouse, and a few others that required physical labor. However, I believe that grading is a tougher job. It is mentally and physically exhausting. At the end of each day, I would go to dinner, then head back to my hotel and collapse on the bed. The next morning, the same routine would unfold the best part of grading was getting to see the great coins that were submitted. That was reward enough for someone who enjoyed seeing the "cool" coins that came through the doors of PCGS - they still arrive today.
Since I am still a consultant for PCGS, I get to see some of the unusual items that appear for the first time in the grading room, such as the recently unearthed 16th example of one of the most famous United States coins, James A. Stack's 1804 Draped Bust Dollar. Along with fellow numismatists John Kraljevich and Vicken Yegparian, we were able to spend an hour examining this spectacular example at the 2025 American Numismatic Association Convention. The coin was in the PCGS grading room at the show and the three of us were afforded the opportunity to examine it. No matter how many coins one examines, seeing an unknown rarity appear is a thrill.
Another rarity that was graded by PCGS a few years ago was a coin that I had not seen since 1986. Attending a Dallas coin show that year, I was treated to the viewing of the unique 1844-0 half eagle in proof. The late Mike Brownlee laid out a velvet pad and carefully emptied the contents of a manila 2x2 envelope. I immediately recognized it and exclaimed, "The Parmelee coin!" This half eagle and its brother, the proof 1844-0 eagle, were in the famous 1890 Lorin G. Parmelee auction and properly described as proof examples from the New Orleans Mint. Parmelee was a "Boston bean baron" and his 1890 sale is one of most important 19th-century auctions.
Branch Mint proof coinage is rare, as nearly all proof coins were struck at the "mother mint" in Philadelphia until the late 1960s, when the San Francisco Mint became the main production facility for proofs. When I arrived at the PCGS grading room that day, I was handed the 1844-O half eagle and made the comment that "I had not seen this coin since 1986." The graders all looked at me with that quizzical look of "how did you see this coin?" I told the graders the story of how I saw it in 1986 at that Dallas show. It is a spectacular coin that one does not forget - it is graded PR67DCAM!
There are many stories from the first 40 years of PCGS. Being a part of this journey was something I could not imagine in the beginning of my coin collecting days in the 1950s. At the start of PCGS, I did not envision the impact that third-party grading would have on our industry. One of the most important collections that I have helped form would not exist without third-party grading. The owner collected coins as a youngster, as many of us did, but said he would never have bought coins as an adult without the advent of third-party certification. The PCGS grading and authenticity guarantee gave him the confidence to build a world-class collection. I have heard this same story from many well-heeled collectors. It has been an amazing 40-year ride!