Buy a WTC ASE or Silver Maple Leaf and save yourself a lot of cash, while still owning a memento if you want one.
I rather have that 1986 ASE you don't like.. because its graded Bullion.. poisonous to you.. . You can purchased them for less than that.. and sell them for 100. or more not on the bay either, its a win win for me I would think but I am not a normal specimen. Its wading into the auctions and other sites and you can see what other people are buying and selling and you become familiar with current pricing and what sales good that day.. even the POISONOUS Graded bullion. LOL
I just don't like the idea of "owning" coins or anything else that claims to have come from the WTC. Even if the original owners were reimburse for their losses, any coins collected at the WTC belongs to the insurance company. Is that the source of the Kruger that "claims" to have come from the WTC. Is their a trail of ownership?
If an insurance company paid out claims involving these coins...then yes, the insurance company would have taken possession of the coins after recovery. So what? Insurance companies sell the items that they recover after claims are paid out. When a car is totaled and the insurance company keeps the car...they sell it (either for parts or to be refurbished and sold with a branded title). This is no different. You act as if somehow the insurance companies are getting ripped off. They would have sold the coins after they were recovered.
I read several news article about people that were scrounging things from the WTCs. Not all things were protected or controlled. How did NGC know that the coin was part of the WTC demolition? Was there some type of document of ownership? I think that I am only curious of how the "owner" got the coin. It may be legit.
Unless there was a safe cracker among the bunch and they had time between police runs I highly doubt that would be a believable scenario.
My assumption would be vaults were unearthed from the rubble and opened. Because there was an insurance payout, you can bet insurance representatives were present for the opening. PCGS and NGC are extremely reputable. If they say the provenance is there and are willing to put their name on it...it's there. They wouldn't risk hurting their reputation on it.
Here, here, it’s all about the dollar bill I can almost guarantee there was a representative standing by to catalog the contents.
As a retired State Auditor for North Carolina, I have little trust on information or confirmation from people that are supposed to have great trust. I don't trust anything that is considered to be valid unless have have access to the information that validates what is considered the "Absolute Truth". One of the great sayings in the accounting world is that "People are as honest as they have to be." I am glad that whoever acquired the coin from WTC, but unless there is Proof that the coin came from the WTC, I don't believe it." I would like to have the "Trail of Custody" before I would accept that coin or anything else that came from the WTC. I am sure that the coin, itself, is real, but who originally took it out of the WTC. Since there is no serial number on the coin, it cannot be identified that way. If the coin was originally "certified" by NGC or PCGS, I would assume that they had pictures or documents or some other way of proving the WTC coin is the same one they had identified originally and when they get their "grubby little hands" on the coin after it took a dive from one of the WTC buildings, I would only agree that they were the same after another independent agency so the documentation can be documented. In other words, I don't accept it as a WTC coin unless I can have information to prove it. I hope the new owners did have a third party document the source of the coin.
I've come across several things online saying they were LEGALLY taken in an armored truck straight to PCGS. Here's an article from 2003 that I think goes into detail of the ownership and how these came onto the market. It talks about how some people found it a little morbid. Of course, this article was less than 2 years after the attacks. I didn't read the whole thing But I think there are answers to be found here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106012198859689500 Edit: I hope this link allows you to read the whole article. I tried to go to it a second time and was asked to subscribe or sign in
Mike Sherman, vice president of PCGS, said, "A submitter brought the deal and requested the pedigree." Mr. Sherman provided a copy of a letter dated Feb. 6, 2002, which accompanied a shipment of 2,640 U.S. one-ounce silver "eagle" coins, showing that the coins were transported by an operator of armored trucks from Ground Zero between Oct. 30 and Nov. 3, 2001, and were part of the inventory recovered from Scotia-Mocatta's vault. Mr. Sherman said the firm possessed about 30 similar letters. Mr. Sherman said about 100,000 coins were submitted and that the deal was done at a discount because of its volume."