With PCGS's inability to attribute and provide a guaranty for the attribution...

[MAULEMALL]

Where does that leave all those WTC coins?

[Beijim]

In the bag the collectors who bought them are holding.

 

Everyone has their taste in this matter, but to me these specially labeled encapsulations mark a numismatic nadir and constitute a dubious and somewhat ghoulish effort to capitalize on mass misery. The history and memorial tacks are clever but are in my estimation nothing more than transparent gambits to exploit baser instincts - the same instincts that make people slow down to view highway accidents.

 

Since I couldn't care less about these artifacts, the PCGS attribution has the same value to me as the coin - none - with the added observation that PCGS only lowered the bar on its own prestige in issuing these certifications.

 

Beijim

 

[Oldtrader3]

I have no desire to own a WTC coin. The fact of 3000+ americans losing their lives so tragically is something that will always be with me. I do not need a ghoulish souvenir of that incident.

 

I had a (New York Fire Dept) newspaper clipping on the wall of my office that was stolen from me that captured the destruction, horror and desolation of that event. It brought tears to my eyes almost every time I looked at it. I wish that I still had that picture. It is most deserving and should win a Pulitzer Prize, hands down.

[MAULEMALL]

This post wasn't so much about the coins themselves as it was about the fact that PCGS has no problem attributing (showing Provenance as it were) coins.

And I would think ,Standing behind them.

[Beijim]

Regarding WTC coin provenance, the buyer is explicitly purchasing the PCGS reputation, because that's the only practical warranty the buyer has that the coin really is what the label purports. At best, I'd expect PCGS (or whoever submitted the coins to PCGS) can prove that a lot consisting of X Silver Eagles originated in vaults at the WTC. But one specific coin? Forget it. The lots consist of hundreds of coins. It's like the old Adventure computer game: "You're in a maze of twisty little passages, all identical..."

 

I'd propose that pedigree such as Norweb or Eliasberg is qualitatively different, as most such coins are individually cataloged. In this case, the buyer is implicitly purchasing the PCGS reputation, because independent means exist of demonstrating pedigree. In other words, there are single coin audit trails. No such audit trails can be (re)constructed for the vast majority of WTC coins. They're simply curious artifacts, like pieces of the Shuttle Columbia.

 

Beijim

 

[MAULEMALL]

Regarding WTC coin provenance, the buyer is explicitly purchasing the PCGS reputation, because that's the only practical warranty the buyer has that the coin really is what the label purports. At best, I'd expect PCGS (or whoever submitted the coins to PCGS) can prove that a lot consisting of X Silver Eagles originated in vaults at the WTC. But one specific coin? Forget it. The lots consist of hundreds of coins. It's like the old Adventure computer game: "You're in a maze of twisty little passages, all identical..."

 

I'd propose that pedigree such as Norweb or Eliasberg is qualitatively different, as most such coins are individually cataloged. In this case, the buyer is implicitly purchasing the PCGS reputation, because independent means exist of demonstrating pedigree. In other words, there are single coin audit trails. No such audit trails can be (re)constructed for the vast majority of WTC coins. They're simply curious artifacts, like pieces of the Shuttle Columbia.

 

Beijim

 

That was very well stated.Thank you.

[Beijim]

That was very well stated.Thank you.

 

Any time .