I was at an auction yesterday. It wasn't a coin auction, but they had some coins, and currency. Most of the stuff was in nice shape but out of my price range so I didn't stick around for the bidding. they had a table set up with ICCS graded Canadian coins. I'm not a numismatist by any stretch of the imagination, that's why I'm here asking for advice. Two of the coins, both 1950s silver dollars caught my attention. The first was graded MS60 the second was MS63. My problem with that is they had both been clearly circulated. There were not just scratches and dings but the MS60 actualy had a dent in the rim which was visible from several feet away (that's what caught my attention I thought I might get a deal on a date I need). I know that sometimes the soft plastic gets scuffed, so I checked to see if that was causeing shadows which mades the coins look so circulated. Maybe a bit but these coins were effinitly circulating for some time. So my questions: Is it possible for a coin to be graded MS60-63 with damage visible from 5 feet away, or is it possible that the graded coins were some how removed and these ones inserted? Or were they overgraded? Some more information: I heard about this auction house from a number of people, who i trust and they tell me the place is very trustworthy and proffesional, I don't doubt that. I'm not here to bash the auction company just curious about the grading. Thanks for your time.
ICCS is probably the most prominent and most strict Canadian Type Coin TPG. IMHO PCGS & NGC routinely over-grade Canadian Coins.
There are many switched ICCS coins on/in the market place. There is a member of this site who has made claims that there is a member of his coin club who will remove a coin from an ICCS holder for you to resubmit in hopes of getting a better grade...if it comes back lower..."the guy" will put it back in the other holder......ICCS is no longer the most strict Canadian TPG company. CCCS is much more conservative. The old "water marked" ICCS holders are much better than the grade flation affected new stuff. And yes, a very prominent dealer/auctioneer was CAUGHT switching ICCS coins.
Your reference to switched coins has nothing to do with ICCS, rather some unscrupulous individual which occurs across the board, but than you go onto to say they return it to it's original holder. If they are returning the coin to it's original holder without any indication of the coin having been removed, than the grade indicated on the encapsulation is accurate, according to ICCS standards. I can't speak from a point a personal experience about CCCS, Since i've never conducted business with them, and have yet to see any of their work being offered at any of the major auction houses, which is in part reason for my lack of knowledge about this company. As for that Dealer, that's very disturbing to hear. As alway's " Buyer Beware " .
