coinman_23885

I also think it is pretentious. Everyone that is knowledgeable will know that the Eliasberg 1913 PF66 nickel is the highest graded. You don't need it on a special label.

Unless it is reserved for coins where there are a small, finite number of coins whose condition census is well known, then this is a horrible idea. It will generate law suits if new examples are upgraded or come to the market (think the newly 1854-S $5 - what if instead of being XF it bested the Pogue AU58+?).

I question the value of the grade review service especially. If a person cannot tell "likely low circulated" versus "likely high circulated" or better, then that person should probably consider another hobby. I'm betting the average novice could match NGC's ranges with a high degree of concordance. Without seeing a coin in hand, I think authenticity review is going to be futile except for the most obvious counterfeit coins. The photo quality is also horrendous. The posters would probably fair better posting here or on other coin forums where there are experienced collectors, dealers, and experts who are likely to spend more time on it than a grader.

Maybe not. Do you have the seller's name and address? Demand a refund and send them comparison photos of a real coin. If they refuse the refund and can be located, contact the U.S. Secret Service and local authorities. Tell them you were defrauded with an expensive counterfeit coin. How did you pay? What venue was the item sold? If you paid by anything other than cash you may be able to reverse the payment or at least find out where the seller banks and his contact information.

The registries already award bonuses to PL/DMPL coins. You could build a PL set there. A special category could artificially increase demand and destabilize the market for these price wise to unrealistic levels. Many will also be moving ATS anyway as PCGS will now designate them as PL.

I had an interesting thought that might simplify the process. Skip Fazzari, a former NCS/NGC grader and now ICG grader, posts as Insider2 on the CU Forums. Skip likes this sort of thing to show off (not a snide remark - he's a nice guy, but he likes to impress others). This would be right up his alley. Post this with the NGC results, better images, and then make a "contest" thread to see if you can convince Skip to do all the work for fun (read as free) based on the images/diagnostics. If he is successful in authenticating it, print Skip's notes and submit to ICG. You'll know ahead of time before spending submission fees and all of the postage and insurance. If he can't tell you based on the photos, I'm sure he'd love to examine it under his electron microscope if you submit it to ICG. Either way, if you pique his interest, I think he would spend far more time on this than the average TPG/TPG grader would.

See if one of the other services will authenticate it for you.

I didn't realize everything was raw. Discount and bulk grading are available through HLRC. Submit it all to PCGS through Harry. Afterwards you can solicit an offer from him but have no obligation to do so. At least you'll know what you're dealing with at that point. The more you submit, the better the rate you can potentially get from HLRC in terms of grading fees. http://www.hlrc.com/Home/Services

For generics, auction houses are a waste of time and money. You will net far more wholesaling them out on your own if necessary. Consider crossing anything of large numismatic value to PCGS, and to CAC if you can get a sticker, and try selling yourself here and on the PCGS forums. If that fails, try consigning them to a dealer. Sometimes you net more from consignments to dealers than you would an auction house. Doug Winter comes to mind and can move things very quickly especially if the quality and rarity are there. Only esoteric and truly better end coins are worth considering the auction route in my opinion. Another approach might be to submit everything to CAC through a collector (no fee for coins that don't sticker) and sell what stickers to CAC unless you are convinced you can do much better in the larger market (maybe for the very high end stuff). Other wise a CAC bid would likely net you far more than you'll get after auction fees, and you won't have to wait for the auction to settle! It is impossible to give more detailed advice without a list of what you're dealing with including dates, mint marks, grades, services, and quantity.

Unfortunately I'm not joking. I wish I was. The plastic obsession in this hobby is nutty to me.

I've also noticed a lot of NGC star coins being cracked or crossed over to NGC as evident from sales listings with the old NGC labels. I have crossed several over myself. It is anecdotal and hardly a sample size with any statistical power, but still an interesting observation.

I think the decision has hurt the market for NGC registry coins based on my experiences. In fairness, there are a number of confounding variables at play including a choppy (at best) larger market. Some dealers won't even take NGC coins on consignment anymore.

Reduced

TTT

TTT

Reduced.

If anyone is interested feel free to make an offer.

Thank you!

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PCGS made a press release that Hall's employment was terminated... It didn't sound voluntary. There have been other high level departures there. While it is possible that it is a coincidence for Don Willis, it does look like PCGS is in the process of a great purge. I'm sure falling stock prices has a lot to do with it. It is kind of sweet justice for booting Coinguy1 (especially with Hall), RWB, and you ATS.

It's no great loss. Don was nothing special IMHO.

The pieces are worth face value.

Maybe Hall should create another grading service to compete with PCGS.

I agree there is a major problem in determining populations given that PCGS will not attribute PL buffalo nickels. I have never seen a nickel in a PCGS holder close to mine, but with tens of thousands of coins certified, there is no way to say definitively. As for auction records, there are none so the first person to sell one at a fixed price or who is brave enough to face a no reserve auction will ultimately set the market. The price sounds very high especially for the grade to me, and my personal interest level in PL coinage is nowhere near that for any 20th century coin. I think they are trying to extrapolate from other rare PL series (e.g. Peace Dollars), but it is unclear that a PL buffalo would fetch anywhere near what the PL Peace Dollars do even though the nickels are rarer in PL. I hope they do sell it successfully for $7,500 but that would be a fantasy for me.