Questions about verifying an NGC slabbed purchase 1 1

[Tim J Baker]

I am new to purchasing coins that are slabbed and have a couple of basic questions to ensure I am purchasing legitimate coins:

When I put an NGC slabbed coin in my Registry, should I always have a picture come up that allows me to see and compare it with what I purchased? I have registered 5 coins and that is what happened. I just now registered 2 NGC slabbed coins, a 2020-Mo 1 Onza Libertad MS70 and a 2022-Mo 1 Ounce Libertad and neither had pictures.

I want to weigh the coins and compare the coin weight I should expect, but I don't know where I can find the weight of the slab to make an adjustment. Is there a place that has that information? Are there any other NGC slab-specific things I should consider as part of the verification...

[J P M]

Slab weight is something no one talks about. Some coins have not been photographed by the top grading company's. If you post some pictures of your coins, the members here can give you a good idea of your coins authenticity if the shots are good enough.  

[Sandon]

    Welcome to the NGC chat board.

    NGC has taken photos of the coins it has certified in their holders since October 2008. See NGC Security Center | NGC (ngccoin.com).  Coins certified by NGC before that date generally do not have photos. Coins minted in 2020 and 2022 should have photos, although the photos are occasionally missing or of the wrong coins, which is likely what happened here. If when you entered the serial numbers of the coins into the Registry (or "My Competitive Coins"), and the coins were correctly identified, that means that the unique serial numbers on your holders correspond to coins that are in genuine holders with those specific serial numbers. You can also verify this and see any NGC photos on the "Verify NGC Certification" tool referred to on the previously linked Security Center page or at NGC Cert Lookup | Verify NGC Certification | NGC (ngccoin.com).

   There have been instances of counterfeit or misdescribed coins in counterfeit or tampered with grading service holders, including holders bearing serial numbers that correspond with genuine coins described on the holder labels.  See the portion of the Security Center page on "NGC holder and label security features" and on "identifying fraudulent holders".

    There is no standard weight for an NGC or other grading service holder, so you cannot determine the weight of the coins by weighing the holders. Moreover, a coin's being the correct weight is no guarantee that it is genuine. Most of the modern (likely Chinese) counterfeits that we have seen on these forums are recognizable because they show obvious differences in their lettering, numbers and/or other details or appearance from genuine coins. Even if you only buy coins in the holders of reputable grading services, you should become familiar with what the coins you collect are supposed to look like. In my opinion, certification is not, and can never be, a substitute for acquiring your own numismatic knowledge. It is also helpful to buy coins from reputable, established dealers. 

[Henri Charriere]

Excellent, very helpful reply @Sandon 

[Tim J Baker]

Thanks so much for the information, very helpful.

Here are a couple of photos, thoughts?

It just seems odd that there were no photos, it seems like NGC would do this as standard procedure.  Is there something about the slabs themselves, different process maybe?

[Sandon]

    The absence of the photos is presumably a clerical error.  I've heard of this happening before.

[Tim J Baker]

Thanks Sandon, will assume as much.  

[powermad5000]

I have a very nice Trade Dollar that has no photos. I did not discover this until years later (as I am not a registry participant). I suppose I could contact NGC about it, but after this much time I see no point (maybe I should for if it is ever to be sold so the buyer can verify it), but I am not sure how that would take place after all this time.

Point is, it does happen.

[Vess1]

On 2/8/2024 at 8:07 PM, powermad5000 said:

I have a very nice Trade Dollar that has no photos. I did not discover this until years later (as I am not a registry participant). I suppose I could contact NGC about it, but after this much time I see no point (maybe I should for if it is ever to be sold so the buyer can verify it), but I am not sure how that would take place after all this time.

Point is, it does happen.

   Could send it in for a re-holder if it's an old slab or in bad shape.  Piggy back on a dealer submission or someone else.  It'll get imaged.  

[VKurtB]

The photographs are a goal, not a promise. They do them if the cameras are working, but will not hold an order if they are not. You can buy the HR version.

[powermad5000]

On 3/12/2024 at 6:49 PM, Vess1 said:

Could send it in for a re-holder if it's an old slab or in bad shape.

While the slab might be somewhere in the neighborhood of about ten years old, the slab itself is the four point holder type and is in fantastic shape. I photo all my returned slabs myself and then they head off to the safety deposit box which I only visit about twice a year and only actually pull slabs out once in a very blue moon if I have to hunt for one that gets pulled for sales purposes because I have upgraded a specific coin. The mentioned Trade Dollar would have to be resubmitted in the Standard tier and the photo is not worth an additional $40 to me when I have my own photos of it both raw and slabbed.