bstrauss3

One of the wonderful things to come out from the COVID-19 pandemic was that a Spanish-speaking numismatic researcher was trapped in Madrid for about a year. He requested and received a researcher's credential and spent the pandemic researching the history of the Spanish Colonial mints from the original source material.

He wrote a letter to NI (Numismatics International) indicating he has enough material for four years of writting.

On 12/31/2022 at 8:05 AM, Sandon said:

   The circulated 1928 Lincoln cent is in a "sample slab" that PCGS used, I think, in the late 1980s or early 1990s to show what the holder that replaced the original "rattler" holder looked like.  I assume that the box is of the same vintage.  Some collectors pay a premium for these sample slabs that has no relationship to the nominal value of the coin that they contain.

Technically it's not a sample.

It is a production slab, produced by PCGS for Littleton for the Random House "One Minute Coin Expert" by Scott Travers, second edition, ISBN #0-676-60045-X. The quantity produced is variously reported as absurd numbers. Regardless it's common.

They are at their hearts librarians and so the search is one only a librarian could love.

Try using Google, with "site:nnp.wustl.edu" as the first parameter in your search.

On 12/24/2022 at 11:58 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

I thought as much.  What did JA say that was noteworthy ?

I wonder about the business model....dumping CAC stickering....presumably not going to pursue moderns...how many classics do they think they can grab from the established TPGs ?

I hope he has a better label than the preliminary one floating around on the forums. 

I don't recall that the meeting was being recorded. If it was, it hasn't been posted yet. LSCC is not an unsophisticated bunch, the questions were fairly deep, The answers were always some form of "that's a good question, we haven't figured it out yet".

I sort of figure the business model is to re-grade all of the coins that the fan-boys have had stickered. That will keep them busy for several years at the rates they can achieve. But unless they're charging LVMH boutique fees, I don't see how that pays the rent, especially with the costs of building out the business and a grading set. Even if a lot of the coins are borrowed at first (somebody, Wittier maybe, posted they were sending a very nice coin to CAC to be part of the grading set).

I wasn't a fan of the green when NTC used it. Still not. I get the white vs. black for gold, red copper, etc. But EVERYTHING looks TERRIBLE in puke-green.

I see Penny is applying that most important cat rule: "If I FITS, I SITS"

And sometimes, the jerk you saw was fogging the mirror, eh Kurt?

I would bet, esp. given the age, that ANACS of the time had no leg to stand on.

When you submit a coin, there is a legal contract involved. For our hosts it's right here: https://www.ngccoin.com/legal/terms-and-conditions/

3. Customer represents and warrants that it has no knowledge and no reasonable basis for belief that any collectible submitted is not genuine or contains any non-disclosed alterations or restorations, including, but not limited to, trimming, re-coloring, bleaching, power erasing, re-backing, artificially toning, applying or removing punches or stamps, or any other method used to change or enhance the appearance, condition, or content of a collectible (collectively “Tampering” or “Tampered”). Customer acknowledges that Tampering is wrongful and violations of this Section 3 shall entitle Company to compensatory damages and injunctive relief, as appropriate.

18. Customer agrees to return to a Company, at the Company’s expense, any collectible bearing a clerical error made by the Company. A Company will, at its expense, correct the clerical error and return the corrected collectible to Customer. Customer agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Releasees harmless from and against all claims, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) relating to or arising directly or indirectly from Customer’s failure to comply with this Section 18.

19. In the event a collectible submitted by Customer is determined, at any time, to be not genuine or to have been Tampered with, Customer shall provide reasonable cooperation to Company and to any subsequent owner of such collectible, including the reversal of any sales transaction involving Customer and such subsequent owner or intermediate purchaser or transferee.

Anyone have the T&Cs from ANACS in 1973????
 

pareidolia

The SSN hasn't been doing this type of assignments (by office) for quite a while, since June 2011...

https://www.ssa.gov/employer/randomization.html

Two come to mind

• Bi-metallic coins - how they are made (sort of like how do they get the filling into the Twinky)
• CNC die manufacturing - if every die is an original yet an exact copy down to the resolution of the tooling and stepping of the CNC motor

Thanks - looking forward!

-----Burton

Not yet. Right now PCGS - only - is labeling SEALED Monster boxes.

As for previously slabbed coins, there's no proof.

As with any endeavor, it's more and more difficult and more and more expensive to improve quality.

You can go from 1 9 (.9 or 90% accurate) to 2 9s (.99 or 99% accurate) simply by having a person with limited knowledge review the final result. S/he may not be a coin expert, but the person running the slabbing machine knows the difference between an dime and a quarter.

You go to, say 3 9s (99.9% accurate) by having somebody who does know coins review the slabbed results. S/he may not be an expert in everything, but if s/he know the key things (or where to look them up)... so now you are paying for 3 graders, a slabber and a reviewer. 3 top salaries, 1 middle and 1 low.

4 9s (99.99%) - add another reviewer or two... 7 salaries...

etc.

You also hit diminishing returns. That 7th person knows that 6 others looked at it (several of them probably more skilled than s/he) and so starts with the mindset of "of course, the label is correct" - and now you are into human perceptions, where you tend to see what you expect to see.

So instead of adding more eyes, you let the result go out into the world, where the submitter (who is often quite knowledgeable) gets to review it. If it's wrong, they jump up and down and send it back for correction (at least if the mistake isn't in their favor).

Does this system sound familiar?

Partly it is the doctrine of first sale. Once you sell something the buyer has full rights to it and can do anything with it they want. This is why so much modern Commerce is moving to license not sale.

If I license you a piece of software, I can continue to control usage. You buy a smart TV or a smartphone but you license the software. That allows the manufacturer to continue to place restrictions on use.

PCGS is selling the service and slab. Not licensing it.

They CHOOSE to extend their guarantee to subsequent purchasers to protect the value of their brand. But there is no contract between the TPG and the 2nd, 3rd or 9th owner after a coin is slabbed.

Both grading services are for profit businesses, their business plan is to charge as much as possible while delivering as little as possible to make money for the shareholders/owners.

Why are you surprised at the weasel words in the 'guarantee'.

24 minutes ago, Nutmeg Coin said:

And PCGS wanted the coin doctors to be responsible for their pre-submission "work":  http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/coin-rarities-related-topics-the-pcgs-lawsuit-against-alleged-coin-doctors/

PCGS lost that lawsuit, it was dismissed a year later with a slap from the bench:

38 minutes ago, Nutmeg Coin said:

The difference here is huge.  A $75 coin graded as a $40K one, the software I'm sure is designed to flag major errors like that.

Doubt it.

First off you would have to have specified the use case in the original design. In hindsight it's obvious and probably easy to add, but...

Second if they did it, it would be to spin emails to customers - based on a difference between declared value and NGC's pricing guide: "Dear x, you chose to value your coin at $x, our pricing guide indicates that - if genuine - the coin is worth 10x, don't you want to insure the return package properly? Love & Kisses NGC"

And nobody shows up asking how do they do this...

Right - for enough $ PCGS will be happy to reholder a registry set with a special attribution label.

Any clue what the cost is?