The Venting Continues...

I like NGC. They have certified all of my California Gold tokens; it took several years to get this process accomplished, and a bit of money. During that process I noted some errors were made. A Washington Head token was labeled as an "Arms of California" token (they look about as similar as a Morgan Dollar and a Trade Dollar). They tended to confuse "denominated" California Gold and "hybrid" gold tokens. But all was forgiven because they would fix the errors and the customer service folks were pretty cool (most of them).

Then something happened. A complete submission was returned to me as "Not Eligible" for encapsulation. Same types of items that had been certified for years. Token and medal collectors were then informed that their items would no longer be certified unless listed in a recognized publication (Breen & Gillio, for example). I figured that this was done to assist the graders as that group was apparently understaffed and somewhat unfamiliar with such items. But, it was the way in which it was done. Each token or medal was labeled as "Not Eligible" for grading, as if it were the coin's issue, rather than a change in policy. This was my first indication that NGC could be a bit unilateral in their decision-making.

So, I have deleted my lowly Morgan Competition Set. No concern to NGC. But I think Bully, and others, are correct. U.S. PCGS coins will be next. Then the "Custom Sets" will be cleansed.

The only way to slow down this purification process is to suggest to NGC that they look at the recent Bank of America adventure with debit cards...