"Won" an auction for 1876 gold dollar NGC AU-55. Coin came in and had been removed and replaced or possibly cleaned and re-inserted into the holder. The NGC number is correct for the coin. The seller is taking it back but claims that it hadn't been tampered with by him- of course. There is clearly dried super glue on the sides of the holder and the white border? for lack of a better term around the coin was missing under the clear top piece of the holder. I thought it was tape or something on the outside of the slab. I guess now we also have to avoid old holders that can be opened. Don't bid on this if you see it, it's been harshly cleaned and is ungradable!
Uh, are you talking about the white area of plastic? I see that from time to time on the slabs I buy, it's not glue, it's what happens when clear plastic has small fractures in it... light doesn't pass through as cleanly, and reflects off the minor breaks and bends in the molecular bonds of the plastic. If it's something else, I have no clue what you're talking about.
Can you say this another way? I don't understand. I very much doubt the holder was opened. It's nearly impossible to do without breaking the plastic in very obvious ways. I agree with Merc Crazy. Lance.
I don't think it has been tampered with, but you can always send it back to NGC for review and a re-slab.
Look at the left edge of the holder in the first picture - that is crazy glue and there is matching glue on the other side. No holder I have has glue like that. The white stuff I'm talking about is to the left and right of the coin itself - it's missing under the clear plastic.
I felt pretty confident about what I was seeing but I really wanted this coin so I took it to my regular dealer to have it checked out. He, and another dealer who was in the shop, agreed that it had been cleaned and would not grade if sent back to NGC for an appearance review.
If in doubt, throw it out - or return it in this case. Obviously this coin is going to cause stress and doubt so get rid of it. A high dollar coin shouldn't cause stress but rather excitement. You could check and see if the guy will pay to have it reslabed if you really like the coin? Something to consider.
I agree that's from the sonic sealing. That's definitely not superglue. I see that very often on NGC slabs.
Now that my thoughts have been confirmed, I will say that from what I can see, that coin doesn't look so hot. Got better pics of it?
I have to agree with others, there's almost NO chance this coin slab was open and resealed. The slab you have pictured is from the late 1990s, somewhere between 1997 and early 2001. The "crazy glue" you think you see is where the plastic has melded together from sonic sealing. This is a common thing on these older slabs. Are you sure the con was CLEANED? I'm no gold expert, but it could be die polish lines? You'd have to take better photos, but I guess if you sent it back already, too bad.
Most of my NGC slabs have that, they don't use anything to seal them, but I guess during the sonic welding process, some plastic is squeezed outwards and solidifies outside the slab.
I'm not crazy about the coin, based on the photos. You probably did the right thing returning it. Be done with it. NGC has a guarantee which would have kicked in had it been sent in for a review and was found to have been improperly cleaned. But you might not have gotten all you paid. As for the marks on opposite sides of the coin, I've seen that sort of thing a hundred times. I'm not sure what causes it...maybe the white plastic insert is not quite uniform and higher spots press against the slab. Regardless, it is not worrisome. Time to move on. Another will come along. Lance.
I seriously doubt that the holder has been tampered with. And often, what some people think of as a cleaned coin that doesn't deserve a grade, ends up being graded by the grading company.
If a coin has a light cleaning then often time it will grade at PCGS/NGC.....I would advise you to look at a lot of NGC slabs before deciding this one has been tampered with as it's highly unlikely. Good Luck
To append my previous post: I do think you did the right thing, though I think you should be clear with the seller from whom you purchased this coin. It seems the "tamper" issue of the NGC holder has been discounted -- but if you don't like the coin and you think it was cleaned, then sending it back is the correct move for you. It would be the "good karma" thing for you to do to let the seller know that you don't think the holder has been tampered with, but it may be in his/her interest to send it in to NGC for a review. Regards, -Brandon
The sonic sealing machine overheated the plastic causing it to cloud and lump up. Very common on this era of NGC slabs.
