So I was cruising through eBay not long ago and came across this old Photo Cert holder with an 1881-S Morgan Dollar in it. I can't really find any info on the company other than @Conder101 briefly mentioning it in a list of known grading companies. I couldn't resist passing it up. I just wish that the previous owners over the last several decades had stored it properly, the plastic on the front has discolored pretty badly. The grading is far from accurate. LOL If anyone has anymore information on this holder, I would greatly appreciate it. Here is an image of how the front looks in hand. Here is the back. You can see the yellowing of the plastic on the edges. And here is an image of the front where I adjusted the white balance to compensate for the discoloration.
I have seen a few, but also only know the tidbit that Conder posted. While some look ok, most that I have seen appear to be overgraded. I found this where it looks like they were registered between 1985-1987 https://www.corporationwiki.com/p/2o44d5/independent-numismatic-laboratory-inc
I am guessing they graded the obv 64 and the rev 65 (which is how they should do it) but I read here they don't do it that way anymore. If anyone can expand on that I would like to read about it.
Multiple grading companies used to do the split grading (one grade for the obverse and another for the reverse) in the 1980s. Anacs, NCI, INS were just a few that issued certificates with the grades listed separately for each side. Why it went away, I'm not fully sure. My guess is it involved market forces, the entrance of new TPGS (PCGS and NGC), and a desire to identify coins with a single number.
"The physical condition of a coin may change over time with improper handling or storage..." I'm guessing the coin was white when put in the holder. There might be hope for the yellowness if you want to experiment: https://www.howtogeek.com/196687/ask-htg-why-do-old-computers-and-game-consoles-turn-yellow/
That's some interesting information. I'm not sure this holder will be a good contender for the process though. It is not quite sealed all the way around and I would be afraid of ruining the card and photos inside it. Also, yeah I bet the coin was white originally as well. The reverse of the Morgan is still bright white where it was not exposed to the UV light.
There was a seller on e bay awhile back whom had a mess of these like 8-10 not very good images ,and of course moon money. They didn't move and there were a vew descnt dates and mm's.
I mostly bought this to use for the holder premium thread. We'll see how I did when I post it there and get guesses as to what I paid.
