Collectors Universe, Inc. provides authentication and grading services to dealers and collectors of coins, trading cards, event tickets, autographs and historical and sports memorabilia (collectibles).
Once the company authenticates and assigns a quality grade to a collectible, it encapsulates it in a tamper-evident, clear plastic holder, or issues a certificate of authenticity, that identifies the specific collectible; sets forth the quality grade it has assigned to it; and bears one of its br...
Collectors Universe, Inc. provides authentication and grading services to dealers and collectors of coins, trading cards, event tickets, autographs and historical and sports memorabilia (collectibles).
Once the company authenticates and assigns a quality grade to a collectible, it encapsulates it in a tamper-evident, clear plastic holder, or issues a certificate of authenticity, that identifies the specific collectible; sets forth the quality grade it has assigned to it; and bears one of its brand names and logos: ‘Professional Coin Grading Service’ (PCGS) for coins, ‘PSA’ for trading cards and event tickets and ‘Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA)/DNA’ for autographs and memorabilia. Additionally, the company warrants its certification of authenticity and the quality grades that it assigns to the coins and trading cards that it authenticates and grades.
The company generates revenues from other related service revenues, which consist of the sale of advertising and click-through commissions earned on its websites; the sale of printed publications and collectibles price guides and advertising in such publications; the sale of membership subscriptions in its Collectors Club, which is designed to attract interest in high-value collectibles among new collectors; the sale of subscriptions to its Certified Coin Exchange (CCE) dealer-to-dealer Internet bid-ask market for certified coins, which offers a source for historical U.S. numismatic information and value-added content; and collectibles trade shows that it operate, at which primarily coins are exhibited and are bought and sold by collectibles dealers and collectors.
The company has developed various brands in the collectibles markets in which it conducts its business:
PCGS, which is the brand name for the company’s independent coin authentication and grading service.
PSA, which is the brand name for the company’s independent sports and trading cards authentication and grading service.
PSA/DNA Authentication Services (PSA/DNA), which is the brand name for the company’s independent authentication and grading service for vintage autographs and memorabilia.
PCGS, PSA and PSA/DNA are among the primary independent authentication and grading services in their respective markets.
Services
PCGS Coin Authentication and Grading Services
PCGS employs or retains the services of expert coin graders, who are independent of coin buyers and sellers, to provide impartial authentication and grading services. The company places each coin that it authenticate and grade in a tamper-evident, clear plastic holder, which bears its logo, so that any prospective buyer would know that it is a PCGS authenticated and graded coin. The company also provides a warranty as to the accuracy of its coin authentication and grading determinations. As of June 30, 2020, the company employed or retained the services of 39 coin experts who have an average of 11 years of service with the company.
The company’s coin authentication and grading services have facilitated the development of an improving Internet or ‘virtual’ marketplace for collectible coins. The company also provides a range of authoritative content on coin collecting to inform and communicate with the collector community, including guides and reports that track the trading prices and the rarity of PCGS-graded coins.
PSA Trading Card Authentication and Grading Services
The company is the primary authenticator and grader of trading cards. Its independent trading card experts certify the authenticity of and assign quality grades to trading cards using a numeric system with a scale from 1-to-10 that the company developed, together with an adjectival system to describe their condition.
The trading cards submitted to the company for authentication and grading include primarily older or vintage trading cards, particularly of memorable or historically famous players, such as Honus Wagner, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle; and modern or newly produced trading cards of athletes, such as Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Mariano Rivera and Miguel Cabrera.
PSA/DNA Autograph Authentication and Grading Services
The company’s vintage autograph authentication business, initially offering authentication services for ‘vintage’ sports autographs and memorabilia that were autographed or signed prior to the time they were presented to it for authentication. The vintage autograph authentication business is distinctly different from the ‘signed-in-the-presence’ authentication of autographs where an ‘authenticator’ is present and witnesses the actual signing. The company’s vintage autograph authentication service involves the rendering of an opinion of authenticity by an industry expert based on an analysis of the signed object, such as the signed document or autographed item of memorabilia, to confirm its consistency with similar materials or items that existed during the signer’s lifetime; a comparison of the signature submitted for authentication with exemplars of such signatures; and a handwriting analysis.
The company offers grading services for autographs. It uses uniform grading standards that it has developed and a numeric scale of 1-to-10, with the highest number representing top quality or Gem Mint condition. It assigns grades to the collectibles based on the physical condition or state of preservation of the autograph.
CCE and Collectors Corner
The company owns CCE, a subscription-based, business-to-business Internet bid-ask market for coins that have been certified by it or by other independent coin authentication and grading services. The CCE website features approximately 100,000 bid and ask prices for certified coins at www.certifiedcoinexchange.com. In 2007, the company introduced the Collectors Corner, a business-to-consumer website that enables sellers on CCE to offer various certified coins simultaneously at wholesale prices on CCE and at retail prices on Collectors Corner (www.collectorscorner.com).
Publications and Advertising
The company publishes authoritative price guides, rarity reports and other collectibles data to provide collectors with information that makes them informed consumers and makes collecting more interesting and exciting. The company publishes the Sports Market Report on a monthly basis and the Rare Coins Market Report on a 2-month basis primarily for distribution to approximately 31,000 Collectors Club members. The company sells advertising to dealers and vendors for placement in its publications. It manages a Collectors Universe website and individual websites for its authentication and grading services. On those websites, the company offers collectible content, relevant to the marketplace for the specific authentication and grading service. The company sells advertising to dealers and vendors on these two websites and on the websites, it maintains for PSA/DNA in autographs and CCE and Collectors Corner in coins.
Collectible Trade Shows
The company owns Expos Unlimited LLC, a trade show management company that operates a major coins and collectibles show, staged in Long Beach, California, three times a year. At these shows, collectibles are exhibited and are bought and sold by collectibles dealers and collectors.
Operations
The company offers authentication and grading services for coins, trading cards, autographs and autographed memorabilia.
PCGS: The company’s authentication and grading of coins involves an exacting and standardized process. It receives coins from dealers and collectors and remove all packaging that identifies the submitter in any way. The company then enter information regarding each coin into its proprietary computerized inventory system, which tracks the coin at every stage of the authentication and grading process.
PSA: On receipt of trading cards from dealers and collectors, the company removes all packaging that identifies the submitter in any way and enter information regarding the trading card into its proprietary computerized inventory system that enables it to track the trading cards throughout the authentication and grading process. The company primarily authenticate and grade sportscards and, to a lesser extent, entertainment, as well as other types of collectible cards that are improving in popularity.
PSA/DNA: The company takes a digital photograph of the autographs that it has authenticated and store those photographs in a master database. Before shipping the item back to the customer, a tamper-evident label is affixed to the collectible at the customer’s option. The label contains the company’s PSA/DNA name and logo and a certificate number. For additional security, in all cases when an item is authenticated, the company tags the items with synthetic DNA-laced ink, which is odorless, colorless and tasteless and visible only when exposed to a narrow band wavelength of laser light using a hand-held, battery-powered lamp.
Strategy
The key elements of the company's strategy are to increase its market share among existing users of authentication and grading services, increase the use of its services by the various collectors that do not use any independent third-party authentication or grading services, and expand its coin and trading cards services to selected international markets.
Marketing
The company employs both ‘pull’ and ‘push’ strategies in marketing its services to dealers and collectors of high-value collectibles. For collectibles, the company’s ‘pull’ strategies are designed to promote its brands, increase the preference among collectors for its authentication and grading services and encourage collectors to communicate that preference to their collectibles dealers, because most authentication and grading submissions are made by dealers.
Intellectual Property
The following is a list of the company’s trademarks, both registered and unregistered, that are being used in the conduct of its business both in the United States and internationally.
Registered Marks: Collectors Universe, Professional Coin Grading Services, PCGS, PCGS Secure, PCGS Gold Shield, First Strike, CoinFacts, Mobile CoinFacts, PCGS3000, History in Your Hands, PCGS Currency, PCGS Banknote, Professional Currency Grading, Professional Sports Authenticator, PSA, PSA/DNA, Quick Opinion, PSA Cardfacts, PSA CollectibleFacts, Sports Market Report, Set Registry, Rookie Ball and Graph, Certified Coin Exchange, Coinflation, CCE, Collectors Corner, FACTS, and SPOTS DATA.
Unregistered Marks: Coin Universe, Collectors.com, Expos Unlimited, Long Beach Coin, Stamp and Collectibles Expo, and Early Find.
Competition
Coin Authentication and Grading: The company’s principal competitors in the coin authentication and grading market are Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America, Independent Coin Grading, and Certified Acceptance Corporation.
Trading Card Authentication and Grading: The company’s primary competitors in trading card authentication and grading are Beckett Trading Card Grading Corporation, and Trading Card Guaranty, LLC.
Autograph Authentication and Grading: In the vintage autograph authentication market, the company competes with James Spence Authentication.
History
Collectors Universe, Inc. was founded in 1986. The company was incorporated in 1999.
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