US Mint COA Certificates of Authenticity

Does anyone else see the potential violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 being committed by the United States Mint in their practice of issuing free-floating Certificates of Authenticity for their Proof and Uncirculated Coin Products?

"The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (Pub. L. No. 96-511, 94 Stat. 2812, codified at 44 U.S.C. §§ 3501–3521) is a United States federal law enacted in 1980 designed to reduce the total amount of paperwork burden the federal government imposes on private businesses and citizens."

Here's why I think we have a problem. COAs that come with US Mint Coins are printed on nice heavy stock paper and make us feel all warm and fuzzy official like, maybe not as warm and fuzzy as the blue display cases, but warm and fuzzy nonetheless, or they sure do make me.

However, these COAs are not attached to anything and an unscrupulous person could turn right around and try to use them to authenticate a lesser grade coin of the same date and mint mark, just by including the COA in a fuzzy blue box and the coin in a capsule. Now maybe no one has ever thought of this before, but if I can think of it, I kind of doubt that.

In any case, I think the COAs might be a waste of paper, and then of course, money.

I mean, if you wanted to be silly, you could use one to try to authenticate your cat, but I doubt anyone would go for that.

However, let's say you LOST your COA, or maybe your cat ate it. That I am sure has happened. You're not out of luck, though, as luckily, you can buy COAs on eBay, even fuzzy blue boxes. Of course, it wouldn't be the original COA for your coin and you might always have a certain nagging feeling in the back of your mind that someday the government would find out and then who knows what kind of trouble you'd be in. This could be accompanied by loss of appetite, a sense of paranoia, who knows what else? Me, I say, JUST SAY NO. I want MY COA or none at all.

Then, cleaning up today, I found this, from long ago...



Maybe I should write them back or give em a call and let them know they can buy some on eBay?

Also, anyone think there's a collectible value for the above non-COA apology?

 

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Unbelievable!!! You mean they are able to print cards that tell you that they can't print cards (COA)?? And 6-8 weeks, to get something printed??? Your tax dollars at work.

 

"Your tax dollars at work" is right!

 

No intent to offend as there seems to be some tongue-in-check in the above post, but just a point of clarification:

"The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 supplanted the Federal Reports Act of 1942. The purpose of the 1942 statute was to minimize the burdens of furnishing “information” that were placed by the federal government on business enterprises
and others. “Information” was defined in the 1942 statute as “facts obtained or solicited by the use of written report forms, application forms, schedules, questionnaires, or other similar methods calling either for answers to identical questions from ten or more persons other than agencies . . . of the United States or for answers to questions from agencies . . . of the United States which are to be used for statistical compilations of general public interest.”

The Paperwork Reduction Act is described in the report of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs as a “rewrite” of the 1942 statute in response to renewed concerns in the late 1970s about the burdens imposed on the private sector by the government in its collection of information." [Emphasis Added]

Source: https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/1982/06/31/op-olc-v006-p0388.pdf

In other words, the Act had nothing to do with the amount of "paper" being used (or its cost to) by the Government, but rather how much time (burden) it was taking the public to respond to questions contained on that paper. Sorry.

Semper Fidelis

 

The COAs aren’t individual to each coin nor does the mint grade coins so they’re perfectly interchangeable among any one of the coins within a product line

 

Very true, but not being attached physically as in a slabbed NGC or PCGS TPG holder, where the certification is embedded in the holder, they are as silly as my cat joke.

And while the mint does not GRADE coins, they are certifying that a coin falls within a range of grades, or should, that or MS or PR/PF.

 

Excellent clarification, thank you. Time however, IS money, though. Hmm, perhaps I should apologize for wasting YOURs on this matter. Nah. It was fun.

Even in its most useless state, any "official" document, whether or not it has ANY information of value at all, must be retained, stored, catalogued.

 

On a serious note, I often find that, especially with common commemoratives that sell around melt, many people, especially stackers, do not want the boxes, just the coin in the capsule. I have a load of fuzzy blue boxes hanging around, but the cardboard and the COAs I throw out, even though I could sell them, which I won't, because there's some mean person out there that will try to slip a BU into a proof case with a COA and rip some one off.

 

Here, Here!!! I was hoping somebody was going to say that about the sale of these things . . . why would anyone want to buy them unless they were going to screw someone. And you weren't wasting my time or I wouldn't have read your post I the first place . . . I just happen to like doing research on he esoteric.

Semper Fidelis

 

Really the only thing the cert is doing is saying that it is an authentic xyz ect. So a proof ase it’s saying it’s a proof ase. No range of grade is ensured in any way. NGC has been known to give details grades to mint sealed shipments that were submitted before

 

That’s really not true. Plenty of sellers don’t include them with a product so if someone wants them they have to buy it. Or if they wanted one with their graded coin where most sellers won’t include it. Trying to use one to pass a normal coin as a proof is a waste of time they look completely different and with most of them the value is basically the same anyway. Far more are sold for legitimate reasons of someone wanting one then get used in a scam that takes 2 seconds to figure out

 

Right? I find it offensive. Maybe I should bring it to eBay's attention, eh?

Ever notice that no one ever seems to be selling those fine mock wood grain 70's chic Brown Ike boxes though, huh? Now you see it now you don't, "Hide the Ike..."

Maybe the gold foil seals have a cult following...

 

You can fool a lot of people a lot of the time. They make their margins on the ones who don't know any better. That's why I buy MY gold from ***** where what I order is what I get, no hassles. I hate hassles. They devalue a coin so. PMH (post Mint Hassles) are the worst.

 

Is someone is on the Internet and can’t take two seconds to check what a proof looks like that’s their own fault.

 

A lot of these things are bought by non-collectors for non-collectors as holiday gifts. Or one a year birthday items. Imagine the poor kid who goes to cash in his college fund and finding out they are merely silver plated NJ Turnpike Tokens.

 

No one has their college fund in US mint ultra moderns in OGP. IF they do their fund already took a massive hit. We can play what ifs all day long, it doesn't mean any of them are actually happening or have ever happened. There just simply isn't any major scamming going on with the COAs that most people couldn't care less about.

 

I'm not saying it's rampant. But I doubt it never happens. To deny such without evidence is not a good argument. A US Mint COA is a worthless piece of paper. There is no chain of evidence.

 

I've only really heard of NGC lately with ones that toned in the packaging and their refusal to grade modern toned coins. For other situations with the mints QC there's certainly coins worthy of details grades being shipped to customers