Certified Collectibles Group, the parent company of the certification bodies NGC i PMG, acquired ownership of the KM and Pick catalog systems, the most important international identification designations for world coins and banknotes.
KM numbers, derived from the catalog Standard Catalog of World Coins by Chester Krause and Clifford Mishler, have served for decades to classify coins by country, denomination, period, metal, and type. Pick numbers, named after the German numismatist Albert Pick, play an equivalent role in the world of paper money.
These catalog numbers represent the common language of international numismatics. They are used by collectors, dealers, auction houses, researchers, and certification companies to precisely identify individual issues and distinguish them from similar types and varieties.
The acquisition is particularly significant because NGC and PMG already use these designations in their digital databases, price guides, population reports, registry sets, and certification labels. This further integrates the KM and Pick systems with the certified coin and banknote market.
The new owner announced investments in databases to make them more complete, accurate, and accessible to users. This could bring higher-quality photographs, more precise descriptions, up-to-date data, and easier linking of catalog numbers with market values and auction results.
At the same time, the acquisition places a great responsibility on NGC and PMG because KM and Pick numbers are not just commercial products, but internationally accepted standards upon which much of the global numismatic market is based. It will therefore be important for collectors to monitor how the systems will develop further and to what extent the data will remain publicly available.
Read the full article at: CoinWeek – “NGC and PMG Just Bought the Codes That Power World Coin and Banknote Collecting”.
Source: CoinWeek
