Does a PCGS or NGC piece of plastic make such a rare coin any better? Is my Marc Antony coin LESS of a coin since its not hermetically sealed in NGC plastic? I guess I don't understand how a TPG slab would improve a rare coin. Now, if you ever sold it the GRADE the TPG gave a more common coin may matter, but that is not the case with a 1913 LHN is it?
It's a repro. In the the words of Collect89, "the reverse of the coin clearly states that is Certified Often at Pompous Yard sales (COPY)." He also said that he put the nickel into an old ANACS slab put in a Coin World shell for a coin related joke. None of the 5 genuine 1913 proofs are in ANACS slabs.
Heck yeah I would. If the provenance were there, that is more important than what a TPG thinks of it. I know its scary for you to believe it Paul, but I buy coins for 4 figures with no TPG safety net. I KNOW, shocker huh! Now, am I going on Ebay and buying trade dollars? No, I am not stupid. I buy nice coins from reliable professional dealers. Put an ANACS 1913 Liberty Head nickel in a Bowers sale, have it written up its provenance of who owned it, and if I have millions to spend on one the TPG would not concern me.
And the auction house does not have their own experts? Every person who authenticates coins works for a TPG? Sorry man, but large firms have managed to authenticate coins they sell for hundreds of years, long before TPG began. In fact, many of the original graders for TPG companies came from the large auction houses. I simply do not feel that every coin in the world HAS to be in plastic for it to be considered a real coin. Evidently you do. To each his own.
And I remember a Hawaii-5-0 episode where one is stolen from a coin show and the guy evades detection by (gulp) putting it in a newspaper machine.
I agree.Even grades would just be a trivia queston if there is only 5. Those interested in them, or their agents, would know the order of quality with or without a TPG blessing.
Sorry man, but times change. No reputable auction house would offer a notable rarity without TPG authentication. In fact, Heritage stopped allowing uncertified US coins in their auctions years ago. The last time I bought a rare coin from Heritage was 2002. And it is not me who demands that coins be professionally graded, it is the market that demands it.
I know this is an old post Paul, but I never saw it at the time. Sarah just bumped up the thread. Sorry, I am just laughing my rear off here at my desk. I just placed over 5 figures of bids for a European auction this month, and I believe the total auction will be well into the millions if not tens of millions of dollars realized, and not one coin is certified by a TPG. Care to rephrase again how "no reputable auction house would ever offer a notable rarity that was not certified"? Did you mean US rarity? You may be right, but even that would make me sad if US buyers would refuse to buy the King of Siam proof set without some slabbing company approving of it first.
Of course I meant US coins. I even referred to it in that post when I stated that Heritage stopped allowing uncertified US coins in their auctions years ago. I apologize for forgetting about the darksiders. I promise you that if the King of Siam set ever hits the auction block, the coins will be certified by either PCGS or NGC despite your outrage.
Not outrage sir, just sadness at the seeming necessity of it. I read your clarification of Heritage but the verbage before was unclear.
Paid $550 for a 1884 CC Morgan, slabbed and graded MS64 by PGCS. I didn't like it though, because it had toning in the lower half. So I traded it 6 months later for $500 credit at a coin show and got (5) ASE Proofs from year 1993-97! Hmmm, wonder what's worth more now?