Personally, I don't think you should try removing the fingerprint before you contact NGC to see what they have to say about, both, the fingerprint and the scratch. Send an e-mail or PM to Scott Schechter and explain the situation. See if you can't be compensated, first, before messing with anything. Chris
Nah, I am going to leave it the way it is as a reminder to take detailed pics before I send anything in. If I send it to them to see what they say I can already hear it, there isn't any way we could have possibly done that to that coin, everyone handles coins with gloves and they are never around anything that could scratch them, besides, we aren't liable for any damage if there was any, then I might get a courtesy certification as a consolation prize and have to pay to ship it to them and back to me. I would rather avoid that cause it would probably set me off more. Thanks for listening, I will try to get a pic later tonight, if nothing else you can see what a great coin it was at one time.
so here is the pics, I photographed it from different light angles, but you can see the scratch in any angle. I don't think you can see the fingerprint too well in the pics. I still don't think there is anyway I would have missed this looking at it as many times as I have over years.
well at least you have the fingerprint of the culprit who scratched it, but do the tpgs fingerprint their employees?
I still think you should contact NGC about it, if for no other reason than to alert them to the possibility that someone may not be following the established protocol. If it happened once, it could happen again. Chris
I hate to say this, but that does not look like a new scratch to me. New scratches have a very distinctive look, and that one doesn't. But it is what it is.
I know what you are saying, but this is actually a very light scratch and the way I got it to show up for the picture was with some dramatic side lighting. it wouldn't look like a typical deeper scratch where you would expect to see debris from the scratch, or more shine from the new metal being exposed. think of it more like someone took the corner of a razor and quickly slashed at it. It really is closer to a hairline than a gouge. Old fingerprints have a distinct look too as they react with the metal over time, does that look like an old fingerprint to you?