A Doctored Coin – A Pan Pac $50 Gold

[BillJones]

One of my mail order customers came to the FUN show this year. It was the first time that he had ever been a major show, like FUN, although he regularly goes to local and regional shows in the northeast. He was really impressed with the material that offered.

 

During our conversations he asked if there were any Panama Pacific $50 gold coins on the floor. That has always been his “dream coin.” He collects U.S. commemorative coins and has every piece except one of those two pieces. I knew from my earlier shopping there were a number of them that ranged from Fine-15 to MS-65, so we set out to look at them.

 

The offerings ranged from single coins to complete sets. Most of the coins were OK, but I did spot one piece that had MAJOR PROBLEMS that was in an MS-63 holder. The obverse field in front of Minerva’s face had obviously been smoothed because of inconsistencies in the surfaces. Unless there are breaks or damage, a die makes the same impression coin after coin. In the case of the $50 gold coins, special care was taken to make sure that the dies were in good shape. So there was no way that the coin could have looked like this when it left the San Francisco mint.

 

This just goes to show you that you can’t buy a coin like this blind, even if it’s been certified. Problem, doctored coins are out there, and sadly they are in certified holders.

 

[bajablu]

Doesnt sound all to strange anymore. Did your friend find one that worked for his set?

 

 

 

Just curiosity.

[EZ_E]

Submitter hookup or mistake?

[BillJones]

Doesnt sound all to strange anymore. Did your friend find one that worked for his set?

 

 

 

Just curiosity.

 

No, Not yet.

 

He and I were "tirekicking" because he had never seen one except in pictures. He has a nice Pan-Pac quarter eagle so he's serious about getting the $50. There have been some issues about settling an estate, but when that's done, I think he'll be ready.

[bajablu]

nice. always better to wait and get the one you really like and want to own.

[Tradedollarnut]

This just goes to show you that you can’t buy a coin like this blind, even if it’s been certified. Problem, doctored coins are out there, and sadly they are in certified holders.

 

Shocking! Maybe somebody should start certifying already graded TPG coins as acceptable in order to prevent collectors like your friend from taking a financial bath should they buy a bad coin.

 

[Dcoin]

This just goes to show you that you can’t buy a coin like this blind, even if it’s been certified. Problem, doctored coins are out there, and sadly they are in certified holders.

 

Shocking! Maybe somebody should start certifying already graded TPG coins as acceptable in order to prevent collectors like your friend from taking a financial bath should they buy a bad coin.

 

Cue CC

[PerryHall]

Was this doctored coin in a top tier slab by any chance?

[BillJones]

Was this doctored coin in a top tier slab by any chance?

 

Sadly, yes.

 

Here is a cynical way of describing what had been done to the coin. The guy who worked on the piece should have spent more time smoothing out cars in a body shop before he started to work on coins. It was about as well done as that ad when the guy takes the gum out of his mouth to plug a hole in the Hoover Dam and says, “That ought to do it!”

 

In short this no way that this coin should have gotten by IMO.