Plus Grades Explained: What the + Means at PCGS and NGC

What the plus is

In 2010 PCGS and NGC both began adding a plus sign to some grades. A coin graded MS65+ is, in the service's opinion, an MS65 that is close to MS66: better than a typical 65 in strike, luster, surfaces, or eye appeal, but not quite enough to earn the higher number. The plus is available at most grades from the mid-circulated range up through MS69, and it is applied at the graders' discretion during normal grading.

The plus was created to solve a real problem. Grades are integers, but coin quality is continuous. Before the plus, an MS65 that was a hair short of 66 and an MS65 that barely scraped in from 64 carried the same label and were priced the same until a buyer saw them in hand. The plus lets the service signal the difference without inventing a new grade.

How it is assigned

The plus is part of normal grading. Graders record a grade for each coin; if their judgment is that the coin is at the top of that grade, they record the plus. There is no separate submission for it, no extra fee at the point of grading, and no guarantee that a coin that looks like a plus to you will receive one.

Because it is a judgment about position within a grade, it is one of the least consistent elements of the label. The same coin might receive a plus on one submission and not on another, and both results are defensible. Collectors who resubmit coins hoping for a plus are playing a smaller version of the upgrade game, and the same cautions apply.

There is also an asymmetry worth understanding. A coin cannot be graded MS65- to indicate the low end of the grade. The plus only marks the top. So an MS65 without a plus tells you the coin is somewhere from the bottom of the grade to just below plus territory, which is a wide range, while an MS65+ tells you something more precise.

Plus versus the grade above

The obvious question is how an MS65+ compares to an MS66. Technically, the plus coin is a 65 and the other is a 66, and the service's guarantee reflects that. In the market, however, plus coins on scarce issues often trade closer to the higher grade than to the plain lower grade, because buyers reason that the coin might cross to 66 on resubmission and price that chance in.

How much of the gap the plus closes depends on the series and on where the population collapses. If MS66 is where a date becomes scarce and expensive, an MS65+ can trade well above a plain MS65. If the population is deep at both grades, the plus adds little. The only way to know for your coin is sold data: search the plain grade, the plus, and the grade above, and read the results side by side.

Plus versus the NGC star

NGC uses two modifiers, and they measure different things. The plus marks technical position within the grade. The star marks exceptional eye appeal, which is mostly about color and toning and can be awarded to a coin anywhere in its grade. A coin can carry a plus, a star, both, or neither. The NGC star has its own guide; the short version is that a star coin looks unusually good, while a plus coin is technically strong.

PCGS has no star. A PCGS coin with superb toning and average technical quality for its grade has no way to signal that on the label, which is one reason such coins are photographed heavily and sold on the images.

Plus versus a CAC sticker

The CAC sticker is the third thing buyers confuse with the plus. CAC is a separate company that reviews coins already graded by PCGS or NGC and stickers those it judges solid or high for the grade. Green means CAC agrees the coin is at least solid; gold means CAC thinks it is undergraded. A CAC sticker is an independent second opinion; a plus is the original grader's own refinement.

The combinations matter. A plus coin with a green sticker has two parties agreeing it is a strong example of its grade, and the market rewards that. A plus coin with no sticker may never have been submitted to CAC, or may have been submitted and declined, and the label does not distinguish those cases. What CAC is and how stickering works cover the mechanics.

Since CAC began grading in its own holder, there is also CACG, which grades coins from scratch under the CAC standard. CACG uses its own approach to signaling quality within a grade; check its current label conventions rather than assuming they match PCGS or NGC.

Which coins get a plus

The plus appears most often where the market cares most about it: high-grade classic silver and gold, key dates, and conditionally scarce issues. It is uncommon on low-value moderns, where the difference between the top and bottom of a grade is not worth a grader's extra attention, and it is rare at the very top of the scale, where MS69+ exists but MS70 obviously cannot carry one.

Some collectors specifically hunt plus coins as a strategy: buy the strongest example of a grade for a small premium, hold it, and let the market or a future resubmission recognize the quality. Others ignore the plus entirely and buy on the coin. Both approaches work if the buyer looks at the coin first and the label second.

Reading a plus on a listing

When a listing says MS65+, confirm it against the certification number, because sellers occasionally add a plus in the title that the label does not carry. Look at the coin and ask whether it looks like a strong 65. Search sold results for MS65, MS65+, and MS66 for the same issue and note the three ranges. Then decide what the plus is worth to you.

The plus is a useful, imperfect signal. It rewards buyers who understand what it measures and punishes buyers who treat it as a half-grade with a fixed price. Keep it in the first category.