Population Report
PCGS maintains a census of all coins they have graded since their inception, revealing the incidence of each date, mint mark, and reported variety of coin, as well as feature designations such as "prooflike" Morgan dollars or "full bands" found on the reverse of better-struck Mercury dimes. Access to this report is available to dealers and paid members of the PCGS Collectors Club, an annual membership service that allows non-dealer individuals to submit coins for grading. The report is updated continuously on their web site, though a printed version is published at regular intervals.
Analysis of this report and a similar one published by NGC has allowed numismatic professionals to estimate the rarity of specific coins, and over time these two data bases have revealed some coins once thought rare to be remarkably common, whereas others thought more common have shown to be likely few in number. The population reports are followed closely by numismatic professionals, but they also recognize that their numbers can be inflated through multiple submissions of the same coin, broken out of its holder and re-submitted with the hopes by the sender of receiving a higher grade, or deflated through reluctance to submit a common coin of little value for a service that costs more money than the coin is worth.
Read more about this topic: Professional Coin Grading Service
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