So, as I was doing research for specimen coins, and I bought the 2019 Mega Red book, I saw that all "uncirculated" 1st Spouse $10 Coins are Burnished: But, they have an MS grade. But, "Burnished" Silver Eagles are (or other bullion) graded with an SP grade. Why is this???
As I have tried to explain to you before, these designations the TPGs use are completely arbitrary and do not mean anything. Sometimes they do it just to make their slabs different from those of their competitors and for no other reason. Other times they do it as a marketing gimmick to help boost their bottom line.
@lovecoinswalkingliberty , NGC uses MSxx for the "burnished" silver eagle series. So as GDJMSP stated, this is a TPG label.
Probably to differentiate the MS ASEs from the Burnished ones, so they have MS, SP, PR and RP (reverse proof). Since there were no bullion issues of the First Spouse gold, there was no need for the extra designation to prevent confusion... which always ends up creating more.
The thing that creates confusion more than anything else is the TPGs' misuse of terminology ! If they would stick with long established and accurate definitions of numismatic terms instead of making crap up for financial reasons - there would be no confusion !
While on this subject, I recently sent a 2005-P MS66[a business strike] Kennedy in to NGC for an upgrade. I had compared the coin to several others of the like and thought mine should be at least a 67 if not a 68 grade. Well, when I got it back it was upgraded to a 67, but, it had a SMS designation on the new holder. I'm still furious about this outright THEFT of my coin by the grader. I'm still trying to win back my MS designation, but now NGC says they don't guarantee SMS coins. What a bunch of BS as for as I'm concerned...has anyone had any similar problems? They offered me a $50 credit for my suffering, but I still own a $12 coin which used to be a $60 coin but should have been a $200 coin!
That's the way I took it. So all good. I was holding my tongue with regard to situation. Trying to ignore it and chalk it up to experience!
chascat, You had a coin that had been given an opinion. You asked for another opinion, and they gave it to you. You don't like the new opinion, well that can happen. Your only option now is to crack it out(or not), and send it in again, and ask for another opinion. And there's no guarantee that the new opinion will make you feel any better than the old opinions. That's what can happen when you play the game. You gambled and you lost.
Right...these have been referred to as "phantoms" since 2005. MS coins and SMS coins were indistinguishable from one another. I don't know for sure how a small handful of these were graded as MS at the time, but I suspect they were submitted within the first few months of issue. When the SMS coins were issued a few months later there was immediate controversy over designations between MS and SMS coins. I did gamble and lost though and now need to locate a new 2005-P MS67 for my Kennedy collection. At least NGC gave me a credit to help offset some loss. Another lesson learned on my part. Thanks Condor for the feedback. On the lighter side, I submitted a 1974-D MS 65 in the same box...I sent it in as raw and it came back a MS66+!....win a little and loose a little.
I think the point you're missing here is - who designated them as SMS to begin with, and why ? One day the coins were MS, the next SMS - the exact same coins. And if you look at another TPG the exact same coins are, or were, called SP. Doesn't that tell you something ?
