econtse

want to express my gratitude to all of your comment and feedback (@Jason, JPM, Henri, dcarr, Mike M, F Mike) which really help me to decide my next action. @Mike Meenderink - really thanks for your time and detective work which I guess grader of NGC/the other major may perform similar step as one of their verification processes for rare coin as they probably don't have a real one on hand to rely on, hence, mostly taking reference to literatures/auction house catalog. Therefore, I can conclude that it won't help by providing NGC further paperwork or literature that I can observe. @Fenntucky Mike - thanks for digging out previous auction house records for similar coin. Great pieces for reference. @Henri - as a newbie, I am more than happy to learn from past experience (most likely a painful one this time) hence I am happy to sharing with you guys on how I got this coin. I bought it from an old auntie in the weekend flea market of Western Japan. I got it from her at US$600 after bargaining. The main reason behind my purchase decision is there's a historical linkage between the Hong Kong Mint and Osaka Mint (1st mint in Japan). And Osaka Mint bought all coinage machinery from HK Mint after shutdown of the latter in 1868. there's some belief that certain specimen and pattern coins were passed to Japan as well. Of course, to avoid saying the obvious, I believe a piece of history doesn't mean anything on the authenticity of my coin.

I know it maybe not appropriate to post here but I just want some advice from veteran collectors. I got an 1862 Hong Kong cent (PR-291) pattern coin and this coin triggered me started coin collecting and appreciation. With great curiosity on its authenticity, I joined NGC as member and submitted this coin to NGC for grading 3-4 weeks ago. It returned to me today with a label "Questionable Authenticity". The NGC staff asked me to provide more paperwork (e.g., auction record, literature about this coin, etc.) in case I want to resubmit it again. After further research online, I am just aware that NGC only graded 1 of this pattern coin according to their NGC Census. While the other major coin grading company seems more experienced on grading this coin. I am wondering would it be worth further time and money to submit it to the other grading company? Did anyone got the experience that him/her coin got "Questionable Authenticity" from one grader but got slabbed by other major grader? Any sharing/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! L Tse

@Greenstang thanks for your valuable comment. Yes, I compared it with several PCGS and Numista record, the letter "O" is obviously differed from all the genuine one. And the seller is just asking for around US$80 which is far cheap for such good condition.

do anyone happen to know if Heaton Mint ever produced 1868 20 cents coin for Hong Kong? I came across a coin dealer in SE Asia selling a 1868 Hong Kong 20 cents coin with a "H" mark under Queen Victoria's portrait. There's no where I can't find such version of mintage across all coin catalog and auction references.