I recently bought a 1877 S Trade Dollar with a ton of chop marks, and realized that it's actually an 1874 S Trade Dollar (I didn't even notice when I bought it). It was slabbed by PCI. Would you recommend I keep it in the holder or break it out? And because the wrong date is on it, should I also assume that the grade may not be correct? I hear that PCI is no longer, but did they have a reputation for mistakes back in the day?
Well, PCI is a second-tier grader, some would even say third. At least they are (were) a real grading company, not some basement grader. That being said, I wouldn't rely too heavily on the assigned grade. I would be tempted to crack it out but for one thing, the prevalence of fake T$1 on the market. Keeping it in the slab at least suggests that someone agreed that it is authentic. My $0.02.
PCI was considered a fairly reputable company at one time, but the economics of competing with the top three or four grading services got the best of them. I would guess that this is nothing more than a mechanical error, and it does not have anything to do with the assigned grade. Granted, it may get a different grade from one of the top services, but based on the photo you provided, there is no way that anyone could give you an opinion of the grade. By the way, I'm not well-versed on grading TD's. Chris
Ok, thanks for the warm weclome to Coin Talk! But yes, lesson learnt. I'm sure everyone has made a mistake when starting to collect.
Can tell the grade from those pics I'd send it to ngc or pcgs. Actually a 74 s is a bit scarcer then a 77-s
I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, just give you a little poke. If you go out and buy a Toyota and then later after you get home realize it's actually a Honda maybe you are doing something wrong.
I have never seen a red PCI label. What other information is there on the label? http://www.sampleslabs.com/pci.html
By the time PCI got to the solid borders they were on their third or fourth owner and their grading had slipped to the point they weren't much better than a basement slabber. As mentioned the red borders were for for the problem coins but they were only used for a short time before they started putting both problem and problem free coins in the old bordered labels.
I knew I liked you for some reason! No longer living in the area, but a life long Chicago Pro Sports fan, except for the Cubs.
