Hey guys, just wanted to share my first submittal story to NGC. Since I've been taking up collecting as a serious hobby I always had a tendency to lean more towards NGC slabs and coins. I don't discriminate against any coin or holder really but I do have a preference for NGC. Well I had my 5 coin minimum ready to go after deciding what all I wanted to send in to them and these are the coins I chose. The first coin to make the trip was a beautiful Lafayette Dollar that belongs to my grandfather. He wanted to know what it would grade so since he's been generous to me over these last few years with coins it was obviously a no brainer to send it in. The coin had some issues that had to be handled before it left for grading. There were some green spots on the coin that I removed by dipping in acetone and rinsing in distilled water. Came off like a charm and immediately made the coin look more pleasing. The second problem was that the coin has been pretty harshly cleaned at some point in the past. I knew this before sending it in and I tried to tell my grandfather but he insisted on sending it anyway which was fine by me. I was unsure of whether it would come back as AU or UNC Details but I knew it was coming back as cleaned. It ended up as an UNC Details slab (which is where I was leaning): The next coin I sent in was a coin I already knew was a 'problem' coin. It's my 1878 S Trade Dollar. I thought it was gonna come back in a details slab for the small rim ding or gouge above and inside the left wing (left as you view the coin). However it was designated as an 'Improperly Cleaned' coin. Overall XF Details, but I was using NGC more as an authenticating agent than looking a specific problem free grade. (Yay it's not a counterfeit!)
The next coin was one I purchased from a member here and was my first twenty-center. These are typically notorious for low grades and I didn't really know what to expect on this coin. I was mainly just hoping for original surfaces and a problem free slab. Which is exactly what I got! This little beauty came back as a VG-10 which I am more than happy with. Anything was better than a problem coin on this one. The fourth coin I sent off was pretty much just a litmus test for my father. He purchased 2 rolls of BU common date Morgans and just wanted to know the general grades he would expect. I was thinking it was between an MS-63 or MS-64. I don't have a photo of this one as he had already taken it with him by the time I got around to writing this thread. It did however come back as a 64 which was cool. That was definitely a confidence building experience as I was fairly close with my assessment on the grade and he was happy with the results.
Nice coins. As I look at both of them they have NO luster and looked cleaned as NGC has determined. Again nice coins.
My last coin is my favorite story and probably makes me feel the best about this overall experience and also another confidence booster. A few months ago I sent off a Walking Liberty half dollar to ANACS (didn't want to pay for any membership fees at the time). This coin was a 1917 S Reverse Mint Mark in pretty nice shape. It was pretty dark in color but nothing I thought was suspicious. Anyway it came back from ANACS as AU Details with the designation of 'Artificial Toning'. I was pretty bummed so I set the coin aside and just kind of forgot about it. Then oneday about 2 weeks later I was gathering up the coins I wanted to send to NGC so I had the brilliant (it was my first time) idea to crack it out of the ANACS slab and see if dipping it would remove the 'Artificial Tone'. So I took the coin to my LCS, explained what I was doing and they let me bust open the slab and dip the coin there so I didn't have to buy a whole bottle of cleaner. At first I thought maybe I had messed up the coin, but then I realized it was already 'messed up' from ANACS' designation so I thought I didn't have much to lose and it would be a fun learning experience. Overall the coin cleaned up nice but I still see some dark spots left over from the toning. Well when I received my email stating the grades I about fell out of my chair. My half dollar came in at a very nice problem free AU-53. This was definitely a major confidence booster and assured me that my coin collector saviness was moving right along. Here are the pictures. I wish I would've taken some before I sent it in with the coin in the old slab. I do however have the removed label from the ANACS slab. All in all it was a great experience for me. All my grades came back as expected or slightly better and the turn around time was great, definitely quicker than my ANACS submittal and the tracking feature was a nice bonus. What do you guys think?
Halfway correct Sliderguy! The Trade dollar has about ZERO luster, but that Lafayette dollar sends a beautiful cartwheel zipping around that coin in hand. Both sides still have plenty of luster, but man do i sure wish i wouldve had my grubby little paws on this coin before someone decided it needed a nice harsh cleaning My picture skills arent the greatest, so that is probably the main reason the luster seems muted, i was more concerned about getting a clean shot of the coin and capturing some good detail.
Too bad about that Lafayette Dollar being cleaned, Trey, but you did expect the 'details' results so it was not a complete surprise. Still, ya see what these coins go for in a 'details' slab? And they do sell.........
If you learned and enjoyed the experience then congrats is in order. And I do not think the proper dipping hurt the 17-S - looks nice to me. Not like some of those purely blast white coins.
