Featured China 1912 Szechuan $1 Coin, A Tale of Rejection & Vindication

In 2012 I decided to unload all my Chinese coins at auction, taking advantage of the surging prices at that time . I sent my coins to NGC to get encapsulated along with a group of ancient coins. Two of the Chinese coins came back in body bags ; one was an obvious FAKE (I posted that coin yesterday) & the other was labeled AUTHENTICITY UNVERAFIABLE, see label below. My first impression was WHAT ? No explanation was given as to why they couldn't verify the authenticity of this coin . The coin looked like a solid AU to me with no problems, & together NGC & PCGS had slabbed over 1,700 of these coins in AU50. So why was my coin rejected ? Did the graders get "gun shy" after finding a fake "Fat Man" dollar in my submission ? Who knows. Time was drawing near to get my coins off to Heritage Auctions for their 2012 Signature Auction in Chicago.



I sent Heritage a large submission of slabbed coins & included my raw 1912 Szechuan $1. I didn't tell Heritage that the coin had been rejected by NGC . Their Director of Consignments, Win Callender, sent me an email & said he wanted the coin slabbed before the auction & would take care of it for me . At that point all I could do was say OK & hope he wouldn't send it back to NGC . Several weeks later I got another email from Win Callender saying he just got the coin back from NGC & it was slabbed AU50 ! The very same coin NGC rejected from my submission they slabbed for Heritage , see photos below. The coin ended up selling for $299.00 .

 

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Wow, quite a system and the truth about how most of the TPG's work! My guess is Heritage gets extra respect as they're a repeat customer and they pay NGC big bucks and therefore they have a symbiotic relationship so they easily got the coin graded. And yes, your fake Fat Man probably nixed your chances for a myriad of reasons.

 

Thats a lovely 1912 dollar, wish I had been collecting world at that time, I would have loved to own it

 

Added link to this thread in https://www.imperio-numismatico.com/t77060p575-falsas-de-subastas#1284835 with a no-fake consideration
Hope I have got your permission, @Al Kowsky

 

No problema .

 

Heritage is more than a repeat customer of NGC. Heritage is part owner of NGC, but has no day to day grading decision making powers. They are “silent” partners.

 

"This-a my partner, but he no speak-a he's a silent partner"

 

I had a similar thing happen to me and a major Asian dealer in the US. First it went to PCGS who rejected it, then on to NGC who rejected it as well.

An NGC person paid them a visit and the head Asian coins guy asked him to have it looked at again. It came back MS-63; it was a bronze pattern. I was a very happy camper. Sorry no pic, but I thought best not to include any more information. I really wrestled about selling it as I do collect some Chinese, mostly Imperial and Republic bronzes.

It was a good time to sell as the market was not as it was a few years earlier but I was quite satisfied with the outcome. I still have the photo as well as the fun of the acquisition. It was at the bottom of two canvas bags of full of about 400 Imperial and Republic cash coins. The more coins you look at including outside of one's specialty, the more knowledge one acquires, and the more good luck one has.

Never sell a coin without checking it thoroughly. One persons junk, is another's good fortune. I love this hobby.

 

The magic of the Heritage name