I recently spent 100 dollars to have a coin walkthrough graded. It came back altered surfaces. I was baffled. Upon receiving the coin back, it became evident that I, or possibly my fiance (I suspect as she looked at it), managed to get a couple finger prints right on the face of the morgan dollar. I suppose they thought it was thumbed. Lol. Moral of the story, don't mishandle your coins before sending them off for grading.
Speedy, I am confident it will be graded upon resubmission. The fingerprints are now gone : ) I gave it a quick dip in diluted dip, and then washed in distilled water.
Not to sound arrogant but why would finger prints warrent an altered surface and not just knock the coin into the AU grade? Did your coin go to PCGS or NGC?? If I may be so bold to ask. In any case sorry to hear about your mishap.
Personally, I think the practice of accepting a fee and then not grading and slabbing a coin is an extraordinarily bad business practice and obviously done to increase the profits of the TPGs using the thinly disguised excuse the the coins are cleaned, altered, damaged, etc. It would be a simple matter to describe the condition on the slab. I will never cease to be amazed that collectors don't object to this practice.
Well, if you have a mint state coin, finger prints would never knock it down to AU. I believe they thought the coin was thumbed, which is a method of surface alteration.
