First PCGS submission - severely damaged & dirty coins!

Spots are one thing, and I promise. If it were spots I wouldn't be upset. I also avoid most silver proofs as one never knows what they will do... This is not white spotting. That is stuff for lack of a better term and a wicked scratch on one coin with other scratches on another three of the coins regardless of the grade.

PCGS told me if they think something has been damaged in the post they halt the sub and contact the submitter. Look closely at the picture, that is not milking or spotting, that is a big scratch. I know the difference. Spots don't glimmer in the light...

Photos only do so much justice, but the field is scratched up on 4 of the 5 coins I submitted with one having a very large circular scratch. There is also, for lack of a better term, stuff all over the coins, not spots or milking, some of the pieces of "stuff" are raised up rather than normal spotting. I love Silver Proof Libertads, I keep them tucked away. They all spot etc. I do not really care. I keep buying them. I know what proof silver can do. I've only ever seen coins like the ones returned to me that have been sprayed with something or left sitting out collecting dust etc...

I didn't come to complain about a bad score and I even considered withholding that, I came to see if this has happened to anyone else before I speak with PCGS again. Here is a picture of one of the 5 coins from the day I sent them out.

 

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I agree, proofs turn on airplane cargo holds where they end up and theres no picture to natch generic coins like that. Best guess it got hit in shipping

 

They mean damaged packages, like if your package shows up run over by a truck they won't take it

 

I've collected coins for years... They mostly go into the family stash and I only recently began buying with the thought of selling anything after my spine was broken in an accident and I started looking for s**t to do rather than go crazy...

I was also curious if the holders could preserve modern silver proofs. A fact I now find rather funny.

 

They do, but the modern proofs destroy themselves consistently

 

Fair. But we are not talking about fine surface scratches. This is a damaged coin. Wouldn't they figure I didn't mean to submit a defaced coin? Maybe if it was 100 years old etc etc etc... But submitting a modern proof coin with a big nasty scratch/s would be pretty silly...

The fact they just went on grading it is actually rather odd.

 

No. And it’s not people do it all the time. They only reject damaged packages

 

Given how I packed the coins, it would have had to have been visibly compromised in some manner to explain the damage. Furthermore, the nature of the gouging is inconsistent with anything other than a direct contact impact. Otherwise, other coins would have been damaged. I submitted 12 coins in all... Only 3 display the dirty finish and only 1 is gouged with 2 others having much finer scratches. Nothing consistent with damage during delivery. Everything consistent with shoddy handling.

 

And for the record, I do not believe people submit modern coins with scratches that look like a kid sat and scribbled on it. No offense, but that seems like a waste of time, money, and energy.

 

But it's more believable that they saw your coin and were like lets gouge this? Sure thing

 

Thank you for reminding me why I don't hang out with anyone that collects coins irl.

Wanna know why this hobby is dying...

 

Hobby isn’t dying but sure tell us why you think that

 

You have the sympathy of all the members here until you start attacking us. Honestly I hope you can get some satisfaction from PCGS. I was first thinking that you had not received the coins yet and that it might be a scratch on the holder, but you took the pictures. Unfortunately there is no way to prove the coin wasn't scratched before you sent it off. One reason someone might send in damaged coins to graders would be to claim the damage was done at the graders...now I am not suggesting for one minute that this is something you would do, but there is no proof to the contrary. Sincerely hope it turns out OK for you.

 

It seems to me members here were doing the attacking. You might as well call him a cheat and a liar.

 

I'm not sure of any other way to say this; that would be one of the dumbest and most pointless cons of all time. These are not particularly expensive coins... My issue is that 5 of the 12 coins I submitted were returned to me in far worse shape than I sent them in. And my biggest issue is that they refused to stop handling the significantly more expensive submission I had just sent them until we figured out what went wrong with the first.

In regards to the suggestions that the coins bloomed because of an hour in a plane; they were sent to me via air post from Ukraine and then sat in my safe for a couple months with zero issues. And unless milk spots are evolving into beige/brownish 3D surface features, pretty darn sure something else is going on. In fact, what looks more likely is that someone tried to wipe something off the face, nicked it, then gave up. But debating what happened is for PCGS and I to look into.

The purpose of my post was to see if anyone has
had or heard of a similar experience and if so did PCGS offer up positive customer service because so far they're failing miserably and I'm not happy with them handling anything else of mine. That simple.

 

Now why would I do that when you've already made my case for me?

 

Have you tried calling/emaling pcgs now that you have received your coins back?

 

This is another case in point where taking quality pre-submission photographs are a must.

I'm keeping my opinion out of this, but unless the OP has some type of proof that the coin was not like that when he sent it in, it's a he-said she-said situation.

I politely direct you to this thread - https://www.cointalk.com/threads/all-those-first-posts-asking-should-i-get-this-graded.313730/

Which links to these graded coins on ebay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/ANACS-CERT...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

People submit anything they want. It isn't a TPG's job to question why a submitter submitted what they did. They're job is to grade what is put in front of them, and make money doing so.

 

Obviously I wasn't clear that I have photos of all the coins. I've been around the block, photos and documentation are key in just about anything. I have pictures of everything I own of value. In the case of these coins I have hi-res photos of them in their original capsules with their COA's.

I didn't come here to litigate my case. I was simply trying to learn lif this was a common or uncommon occurrence. Between my pictures and the fact that the damaged coins were only part of my submission. With the other 9 coins, including 2 of the very same coins, being in radically different condition in spite of all being treated the same by me. PCGS isn't in a very good place on this. Refusing to return my calls or an email isn't going to do them any favors either.

As it looks like no one one here has much to say about the original purpose of my post I wilI assume this is an uncommon event with PCGS.

 

@Clezra5k , I'm not sure exactly what you want us to say? Did you want us to empathize with you? I think we do. Do you want us to get out the pitchforks against PCGS? Unless I know all the details, it seems rather rash.

You joined CT on Saturday, so none of us really know you. So what reaction from the members were you exactly looking for when you joined? What was your sole reason for joining? From reading your posts in this thread, I infer you've been collecting for a while, so why join now? Again, I'm not sure of your motivation here, but plenty of people provided their opinions in this thread. Maybe it's not the reaction you were hoping to receive.

Obviously a mistake was made somewhere when grading your coins. As to where the blame lands, no one can say.