By Jay Turner - June 2, 2026
As a numismatist since my teen years, one
of my rituals is to try making it to the
Annual USMex Convention, a large coin
show held in Scottsdale, Arizona, each
October. It was there, just last year, that a
prominent dealer and good friend of mine
opined, in so many words, “What we do
doesn’t matter. It’s coins. It’s not like we
are saving the world.” I have thoughts
on that…
I have worked as a full-time professional
grader for over 20 years. During that
time, I’ve seen the other side of the coin:
the worst pieces, heard the worst stories,
seen people taken for countless sums of
money. For me it isn’t about saving the
world, it’s about integrity. That is why I get
up every day and strive to do better. For
me, working with top numismatists and
elite graders isn’t about saving the world
– it’s about serving others with integrity.
And it’s been my driving passion for
many years.
I inherited this hobby at the age of 13. My
uncle passed away and left my brother and
me his coin collection. Most of the coins
were silver removed from circulation after
1965. However, seeing pieces previously
unknown to me, such as Mercury Dimes,
Standing Liberty Quarters, Walking
Liberty and Franklin Half Dollars, and
even a Flying Eagle Cent was thrilling. My
father took me to get a copy of A Guide
Book of United States Coins (widely known
as “The Red Book”), and I sat down to sort
this treasure.
For about a year, my father joined me in
collecting coins – until I discovered he
had bought a counterfeit gold dollar coin.
When I pointed it out to him, he tried
to return it to the dealer where he was
brusquely told “tough luck,” and he quit
collecting altogether. I carry this lesson to
this day: one mistake or one bad coin can
end a lifetime of collecting.
As I sold duplicates from my collection, I
reinvested the money into acquiring new
coins. I was fortunate to grow up in the
San Fernando Valley of California, where
several coin shops were within my easy
reach. One such shop, Mid-Valley Coin
Company, held a weekly bid board that
offered 810 items from both inventory
and consignment. Each auction closed on
Friday night, sometimes drawing over 50
collectors and dealers. It was there that I
first learned about coin varieties and was
introduced to world coins.
In 1998, I joined a new ecommerce website
called eBay. It was revolutionary for coins,
allowing individuals to sell them to a
worldwide market. I quickly capitalized on
this opportunity as a part-time job while
I was in high school. The shop soon took
notice of my frequent buying and began
consigning coins to me, and I eventually
sold these pieces on eBay for them. For
the next two years, I spent my Fridays and
Saturdays working at the shop. I left when
I left for college at University of California
Santa Barbara. I spent the next four years
working on a Bachelor’s of History degree
and visiting the local shops when I could.
When I was preparing to graduate, I had
several career paths ahead of me. I had
been accepted to graduate school, law
school, and business school, but none
of them truly excited me. In 2004, when
I attended the Long Beach Coin Show, I
had considered coins as a possible career,
though I wasn’t sure how to pursue it.
At the show, I spoke with three grading
services to ask what it would take to
become a coin grader. One service had an
employee who frequented the coin shop
where I worked and provided me guidance.
At the next Long Beach show, I test graded
for a major coin grading company, and
they hired me as a grader of modern coins.
I was going to give it a shot, deciding that if
grading didn’t work out, I would go back to
school and explore another path.
Grading ultimately worked out for me. I
relocated to Florida, where I spent 14
years working my way up the ranks. I was
primarily involved in bulk submissions
and eventually worked in many different
areas, including grading modern and
vintage coins, varieties, medals, tokens,
and world coin attribution, census and
data entry, registry management, and
even became a grade finalizer for world
coin submissions.
I worked with many good people, some of
whom I am still great friends with today.
However, people and places changed, and
I was ready to embark on the next chapter
of my career. In 2017, while attending the
Beijing Coin Show, I met Don Willis, who
was serving as president of PCGS at the
time. I was offered a position with PCGS
as a full-time world coin grader. Becoming
a PCGS grader was always my dream
job. I accepted the offer and returned to
California in 2017.
The amount of work at PCGS was much
greater than what I had been used to, but
the exceptionalism and professionalism
of the team created a better environment
for support and learning. Part of my
agreement included international travel
to serve the PCGS international offices.
From 2017 until the end of 2019, I
traveled to Shanghai and Hong Kong
10 times a year and Paris twice a year to
grade internationally.
International travel was greatly limited
amid the COVID pandemic in 2020, and
the backlog of submissions at PCGS was
so great that we couldn’t even keep up
with domestic demand. Over time, PCGS
caught up on the backlog and travel
restrictions were lifted. In February 2024,
onsite operations at the PCGS office
in Paris resumed, and since then I have
worked at every onsite grading event there.
While I have given numerous lectures on
numismatics and written hundreds of
articles, it was in 2023 that I was contacted
by the American Numismatic Association
(ANA) and invited to teach at their
Summer Seminar, a popular academic
and lecture program delivered each year
at the organization’s headquarters in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 2024,
the first class I gave – alongside my
fellow PCGS grader Dylan Dominguez –
exclusively focused on world coin grading.
We repeated the class in 2025 and plan to
offer more in 2026 and beyond.
In delivering educational lectures, writing
articles, and reaching out to the numismatic
community, it’s my hope that someone
discovers something new and is inspired to
pursue the hobby. I still get excited finding
a new piece for the collection or even
getting a Lincoln Wheat Cent in change.
That thrill of the hunt keeps me passionate
about coins and motivates me to continue
learning – both to do a better job and to
write something that inspires others to
enjoy numismatics.
As we continue celebrating PCGS’s 40th
anniversary in 2026, it is hard to believe I
have already been at PCGS for more than
eight years. While PCGS has always been
considered the premier service for United
States coins, it is the people who help attain
and maintain that prestigious reputation.
When I first met PCGS Director of World
Grading Mike Sargent, he told me that
he believes that in order to do this job
you need to have passionate collectors at
the helm. This might be one of the keys
to the success of PCGS. Without that
passion, without that self-interest of being
the end buyer, you aren’t going to care
enough to assign the correct grade, catch
the counterfeits, and correct attributions.
It was this mentality that I understand: I
don’t save the world, but I work to improve
every day, uphold the highest integrity, and
make it a little better for numismatics.
Article provided by PCGS at www.pcgs.com