I guess my first (purchased) U.S. coin didn't work out

Perhaps it'll be found in the hold of the U.S.S. Cyclops, but my first U.S. coin purchase is probably bye-bye. The seller turned out to be an ok guy. It was sent promptly, only to disappear as soon as it hit the first scan in the registered mail system. How something registered can disappear without a paper trail is impressive, but the USPS managed it. The seller reached out to them via a search form, and the ultimate reply was reportedly that they didn't know where it was, perhaps it was delivered. I'll follow up and do my due diligence, but it's probably a goner.

I sent it registered to avoid being smashed via priority mail, expecting it to be slow, maybe be a week or two. It's hard to believe that it's only been a month - it seems a lot longer.

My theories are thus; it was either swiped when it first hit the USPS system, 2) something happened to the address part - machine problem or whatever damaged that part or 3) like some other stories I've heard, it fell behind a machine and will be delivered at some comically later period, like 2 years.

My Dad's very thoughtful purchase of a Morgan for me at around the same period satisfied my desire for a U.S. coin.

 

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I bought a $300 coin, watched it tracked USPS all the way to my PO box saying "delivered", went there soon after, PO box was empty. After 5-10 minutes of them fumbling around, they found it. In the wrong PO box! If that person had picked up their mail and kept it, what then? USPS showed it as delivered.

In other words, it's a crap shoot. After that, since my local post office is a mess, I switched to another PO box a little further away, where they seemed more on top of things. I checked my newer box the other day, and there was a package in there. Addressed to someone else.

Not a comforting story for you. I don't buy many coins and have never lost one of them though. Hope yours shows up. Where was it shipped from?

 

Hmm. I wish it shows up as well.

 

I've had a similar experience with a very expensive registered Gold coin, where the USPS site Manager took "early retirement" trying to locate the coin which we know was inadvertently delivered abroad by ship?

I know, "that can't happen!", so she thought!

 

Registered mail is supposed to be the Post Office Department's "blue ribbon service." It can be slower than a tortoise, but it's supposed to be secure.

Currently my order from the mint is having an adventure of its own. It's been shipped from the "fulfilment center" to Dallas Texas. Then it was supposed to go to Florida. Now it's supposedly going back to Dallas. Does anyone wonder why the post office's finances are underwater?

I just hope I don't end up with one of those horror stories when I receive an empty box in a plastic bag.

 

I hate to 'like' some of the unfortunate experiences; it's more of a commiseration.

The slab probably didn't help either, making it stick out. 100% of my other purchases were raw coins. Other than a rare mauling, I don't have problems with ancients sent via 1st class. I had a coin snapped in two, but that was due to the dealer not following packing best practices.

I was so excited to pick it out but excitement turned to frustation after about two weeks of waiting. Now I'm just over it. It's not as devastating as the snapped Nero, although this cost almost twice as much (the Nero was decrepit and cheap for the type), but it's annoying.

Vcoins' well-known customer-to-dealer communication bug is partly responsible. I had wanted first class, and wrote about 4 emails requesting such. The only options were priority (and I had 90% negative experiences with that) or registered. Once the dealer contacted me communication was set up and he seems to be ok.

Vcoins also doesn't have much of a U.S. coin selection. If I had to do it over again I would have just chosen something from Numiscorner, the French dealer. Theirs were less nice and they had no rainbow toners in that price range, but at least it would have gotten there. They also weren't slabbed. Shipping also would have cost less.

I also didn't know about Dad's concurrent purchase at the LCS.

I'll let it wait another month and then I'll request a refund. He's been keeping in touch, enquiring if I received it and giving updates from his enquiries.

I endeavor to do my own diligence by doing my own search form and contacting a postmaster general or relevant official.

 

Registered Mail is only handled by hand, not machine. Only the first and last scans show on the tracing. You can not see the progress. Registered also takes longer so no having any further information please be patient. If it was lost the Postal Inspection Service can usually find it.

 

Initial searches have turned up nothing. It has been a month since the first scan, when it went from his city to mine.

 

One of the orders which lapped this one contained this, a year 15 'plague face' Justinian. For unknown reasons, only the Constantinople mint showed him with his affliction, which he survived.


It's 38 mm. and pretty impressive in hand.

After diving into my U.S. purchase with such gusto and poring carefully over many coins, looking for the right toner, it'd be a disappointing end to have it just disappear. It would have probably showed up if I had chosen priority, but I didn't want to take the chance after repeated maulings.

 

What was the origin city and what was the ultimate destination? I've a feeling the pkg is still gonna show up.....

 

I know it seem like a long time and it is but have you contacted the Postal Inspection Service. Forget dealing with local offices and the sender. It’s time to go direct.

 

Hope it eventually comes. It's always sad to lose something like that trough no fault of your own.

 

How does one contact the postal inspection unit?

 

They should be in the phone book or on the Internet. You can always a contact the district office near you and get their number.

 

I've asked this before but they seem reluctant to provide that info.

 

I don't see why that info would matter, unless you were asking if I'm in the U.S. It was from Miami and it made it to the city next to mine (in the U.S.) and disappears.

 

For some reason I got the impression from your earlier thread that it was shipping international. Some distribution centers are better than others I think, so I thought that info would be useful. Maybe not. With regular tracking I've seen coins arrive at a distribution center, then nothing for 1-2 days, and suddenly it just shows delivered. Or suddenly it's back at the original distribution center. All sorts of weird things.

 

Ugh, after going through all the rigamarole and writing a report (and slipping in a mention of all the priority mail maulings I had) on the postal inspection site, it says this item is not eligible for an enquiry, but rather a postal refund (of the $30 shipping).

It also said that a report had been put in, so it appears that the seller was on the up and up about that, not that I had too many doubts.

I guess my 30 year streak is still good. I have zero (purchased by me) slabbed coins.

Pretty much my only hope is that it fell behind a machine or something of that sort.

I'm sure I'll get the purchase price back, but it stinks that both the seller and myself are out something. The seller had also mentioned that USPS doesn't honor insurance on coins, so he had been out the money on a previous loss.

That slab probably stuck out like a sore thumb, or showed up in the x-ray, and was swiped. We have similar x-ray machines at work, so it would probably show what's inside. That's another beauty of ancient coins. They generally aren't slabbed.

The coin wasn't tremendously expensive, around $130, but it is certainly annoying.

 

Maybe a small folded square piece of aluminum foil over the coin holder as x-rays can't penetrate the foil.