Tooling in slabbed coins

Hi everyone,

I just had a quick question about slabbed coins. On more than one occasion I've seen slabbed coins (high grade sestertii) that I suspect have been tooled. There is one coin I am currently interested in, but I am unsure whether or not I should purchase it. I am perfectly fine with smoothing, but I would not buy a coin that has been tooled. The descriptions on the slab however do not indicate tooling. Is it standard practice for NGC list tooling on the slab if the coin has been tooled? I ask because I have not yet seen a slab that says tooled, though I have seen slabs that say smoothed. Please bear in mind I'm still amateur. Most of my slabbed coins are solidi or silver denominations.

Thanks for your help

 

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From NGC's website:

"TOOLED refers to either the smoothing of a coin's fields to remove scratches, corrosion and other forms of damage or to the restoration of lost details through use of a graver or knife. When a single side of the coin is affected, the terms OBV TOOLED and REV TOOLED are used."

Based on this description, it seems they will include it in the description if tooling is detected. I'm surprised, as I would have expected NGC to refuse to encapsulate an altered coin.

 

For no ancient graded coins yes they will details something with the tooled smoothed etc and note it. No idea how it works for ancient grading

 

Tooled coins don’t get slabbed. So you won’t see that on any current slabbed coin. Maybe in the past they did. Smoothed coins can be slabbed with the smoothing noted in the label.

 

..i have yet to see one..

 

..ok, modern ..but i've never seen an ancient...

 

Romancollector was asking about NGC though.

https://www.ngccoin.com/submit/coins-we-grade/not-encapsulated/

https://www.ngccoin.com/specialty-services/ancient-coins/coins-we-grade.aspx

 

NGC has in their most recent label as well. Ancients may be different, and if so ignore me but they recently have at least for non ancient coins

 

from the page I linked to about grading ancients it says

NGC Ancients will not grade coins that...are altered

Altered Coins
Coins with significant or deceptive surface alterations are ineligible for grading.

https://www.ngccoin.com/specialty-services/ancient-coins/coins-we-grade.aspx

 

I misread. I was just talking about ancients.

 

Thanks for the info. That clears it up. I guess I'm safe to buy!

 

You could email and ask them to be completely clear.

 

@Victor_Clark Yes I think I will. It is a major firm so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Then there are of course fake slabs:
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic58054.html

It never ends.

 

NGC will note tooling on the slab or refuse to slab it. Here's an example from CoinArchives:

 

I have seen several Early American Coppers in TPG slabs that were tooled. Some quite obviously so. They want them back, but we use them for educational purposes and won't give them back.

 

I have an 1893 CC Slabbed coin from NGC graded VF (Tooled) Reverse, it is the last ungraded/slabbed coin I will ever by as the value is so diminished I will be lucky to get 30% of the VF value.

 

Just to clarify, NGC Ancients is a separate operation with different rules and it's own grading scale.