PCGS Adds Scanning Chips to Graded Coins

PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) is a service for grading coins from anywhere in the world. For years, they have been professionally grading coins, and encapsulating them in their archival plastic capsules.

They have now announced that their ‘Gold Shield’ level of service will include the addition of an ‘NFC’ chip, concealed behind the label. NFC (Near Field Communication) chips can be detected by modern mobile phones that have NFC technology built in. Similar to how you can pay with your phone.

This is the first use of this technology in numismatics, and provides a near-impossible (and certainly impractical) to beat anti-counterfeiting measure to the gold shield service. The chip allows the owner to simply hold their phone near the case, and the PCGS app will open and show the coin details within the app. If the app isn’t installed, the information will be shown in a web browser.

All coins graded (with the gold shield service) from February 24th 2020 will include the chip, for no additional cost.