How is this market acceptable?

I was discussing why I don't particularly care for the TPGs and I was giving this coin as an example.

It is an 1891 (fairly common) Seated Liberty Quarter. It is graded by PCGS as a problem free AU-58 (decent grade, but again not exactly rare), and seems to be somewhat recently graded as it is in a three-prong slab.

Anyway on the reverse is not one, but TWO scratches forming a very clear 'X'. Please tell me how that is market acceptable, and not damaged?

Maybe I'm missing something, but maybe slabs should come with data cards giving an auction like description so we all know what we are buying.





The first shows the X quite well, and the second should show the shimmering effect of how fresh the metal itself looks scratched.

Maybe the slabs should have the normal basic info on the front as normal and then on the back of the slab a two sentence description highlighting the best feature and the worst feature of the given coin.

For example on my coin it should be something like a very pleasing and eye appealing lightly circulated seated quarter. Most perceptible issue noted is a small X scratched to the right of the eagles head directly below 'trust'.

Anyway, can anyone explain how that is market acceptable? To me it's damaged and that can never be changed.

 

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I'm very surprised that one didn't go details I'd call it scratched or graffiti it is obviously not contact marks. But deliberate scratches I think they blew it on this one

 

It's very possible that they just plain missed it. This one would most likely be one that gets PCGS to honor their guarantee and they would most likely buy it at market value.

 

The marks do not look deep on that coin. Therefore, their interpretation of them may have been that they made an unintentional pattern and it was okay. The dip this coin received bothers me more than the marks, though I doubt most folks would say a dipped coin should be in a details holder simply for the dip.

 

That X would be a deal killer for me. Very tough to sell problem coins. Probably graded for one of their better customers.

 

Can you provide photos of the entire coin please?

 

It's deep enough to shine and draw your eye to it without any magnification.

And yes, I don't think it was intentional necessarily, but more likely mishandled and scratched from a staple.

 

These are the sellers photos. I'm still working on getting my photography setup finished.





I can handle the light hairlines on the obverse.

As for the pictures, I can just BARELY make out the mark from the pictures provided, but only because I know where to look now.

 

I mean I don't pay experts to miss things. Especially when their job is to look for issues EXACTLY like this. I mean their job is to literally examine the coin in detail to form a very specific grade. I'm not buying they 'missed it', sorry, but if that's the case, maybe that grader needs a new job.

 

As I understand it the graders spend VERY little time examining each coin.
Well under a minute although more expensive/rarer coins probably get a more thorough treatment.
Under those circumstances something like the X's would be easy to miss.

 

Not real comforting when hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars separate one numerical grade from the next, or possibly even two grades. Or how about the difference between a good problem free coin and one that should be in a 'details' slab? Kinda like mine.

Less than a minute is insulting for the money spent in the first place for an experts opinion on the grade and a guaranty that it is authentic.

 

More like less than ten seconds (literally).

 

I'd like to see it in hand as it cannot be seen in the sellers photos...but it is quite clear in yours. I highly doubt the TPGs missed it...even though they spend a short amount of time looking at each coin, they have seen enough coins where that's all the time they need. Plus, each coin is looked at by 3 people. It's possible they made a mistake...but maybe they truly believed it was acceptable. It's hard to say.

When you say "I don't pay experts to miss things" I agree...but nobody is perfect. Every expert, in every field makes an occasional mistake. It stinks when it happens to you...but it happens. This is why these companies have guarantees and stand behind their product. If this is in fact an error and the coin should be in a genuine slab...they will buy it back.

Bottom line is, if you feel this coin doesn't fit in your collection...that this mark bothers you enough (and I wouldn't blame you for that). Contact the seller and return it. You said in the other thread that the seller is reputable. A reputable seller will accept a return with no questions asked.

 

Perhaps they saw it as a contact mark, and not graffiti? I don't know, as the coin is really beautiful otherwise, and they didn't want to body bag it as a "details" coin? Hunting for an explanation here---I would love to own the coin on eye appeal and perhaps that is what they were thinking--it is a clear mark on the coin, but how did it get there? Could it have been contact with another coin in storage?

 

Agreed. It is a really beautiful coin. A couple of contact marks do not make for a problem coin--sure looks accidental to me.

 

Question: is it possible that those relatively light "scratches" may have kept it from grading higher and that is the way the scratches were incorporated into the grade? It's not a seriously high value coin in AU58 but it does double in mid MS grades.
Duk

 

If it were truly MS with those marks it would simply have been given a lower MS designation and not be considered AU58.