Can anyone tell me how much a coin would cost to grade . I mean shipped graded and put in a fancy holder and shipped back, what's the estimated total ? Let's say for a modern American coin?
If you want to grade something thru PCGS, you have to be an authorized dealer or join their collectors club ($49/yr).
Once a member you can submit coins for grading. There are different fees based on the type of coin you are submitting. For example, modern coins (1965-date, valued up to $1000) are $16, Economy service is $20 for $300/ under coins, Regular is $32 for coins up to $3k. The fees are more for higher valued coins or for faster turnaround service at major coin shows.
PCGS requires you to pay for Registered mail for the return of your graded coins, and prefers that you ship them to their office the same way.
Due to the high shipping charges, I recommend to wait til you have quite a few coins to grade before joining the club and sending them in. That way, your per-coin average grading/shipping fees will be lower.
I was in the collectors club for a couple years and sent in about 30-40 coins for grading. Aside from the coin grading, members are invited to the PCGS members-only shows in Vegas. Since I live here already, it's a pretty cool perk. I got to go to a couple coin shows, see (and buy) some amazing coins, eat some good food (catered for show visitors), and even went to a couple neat seminars where I got to meet and chat with PCGS experts including David Hall.
I'm not really familiar with NGC (and frankly don't have any respect for ANY of the other grading services besides PCGS & NGC). I do own some NGC-graded coins too that I am happy with.
You can submit to NGC if you are a member of the ANA (American Numismatic Association), or you can pay to join NGC similar to PCGS. If you only want one or two coins graded, your best bet is to find a dealer to submit for you. Prices woulda depend on what you are having graded, but range from about $20 and up per coin.