Just wanted to hear from anyone here who has submitted coins to PCGS for grading and your experience's with them. Do they also grade foreign coins? I know you need to buy a membership to submit directly to them, but how much do they charge and is the price static or does it vary by coin/value? Without opening another thread tell me if you guys think this coin has been cleaned/dipped http://www.teletrade.com/lotimgs/coins/22/02/c22021261-a.jpg Does Teletrade usually list this kind of thing if it has been cleaned?
I've never sent coins to PCGS so I won't commment on that....but on the coin... Teletrade would be sure to put on the listing if it was cleaned....they are highly respected. As for this coin....it might have been dipped at some point in time...but it is said that 90% of all Morgan Dollars have been dipped too....so likely most old silver coins that don't have toning will have been dipped. As long as the dipping didn't harm the coin that bad....take off the luster or leave marks then the coins value normaly doesn't go down. Speedy
Thanks for the quick response. I guess you aren't 'speedy' for nothing. I'm happy to announce I'm learning my first lesson in coins. From looking at hundreds of auctions I'm amazed how much toning makes a difference in the realized price. Which seems to be completely opposite to places like Ebay. The reason I asked about this coin was how clean it looked , but you made a valuable point. Any coin that old should have light to heavy toning. So it was obviously cleaned at some point.
Howdy I could have explained it alittle better---the coin may not have been cleaned....but since it is so white the chances are that it was at one point in time. As I said...sometimes a cleaning doesn't hurt a coin and it can be sold without noting it...sometimes if a coin has PVC you have to clean it. But in most cases cleaning takes down the value. As the case with this coin....I'm going to say that if it was dipped it was dipped by an expert and didn't hurt the luster and also didn't leave hair lines....if it had does either the value would be cut in half about. I've been collecting for about 5 years and am just learning all about this....learning is something that takes years! Toning does sometimes make a difference.....if the toning is dark and ugly then that might hurt the value while if it is blue and green and such the value might go up alot. Being that the case many people fake toning---they do it many ways and try to jip people with their faked toned coins. If you want to see what can happen.....take a Uncirculated cent and place it on a light bulb....turn on the light and leave the cent there for about 2-4 min....turn off the light and let the cent cool down or you will burn youself....after about 3-5 min take it off and see all of the colors.....the long left on the light with the heat the darker it will go. This is one of the many ways to fake a toning. Speedy
Yes, PCGS grades foreign. Not every foreig coin is eligible for grading, so you should contact them if you have something unusual or not in the Krause. From what I hear, they grade them real slowly. Expect your foreign to be at PCGS for LONG time if you decide to submit to them. As for the coin in the TeleTrade auction, the coin is graded MS65 by NGC. NGC, ICG, ANACS & PCGS will not slab harshly cleaned coins. They will allow light cleanings and net grade the coins. Cleaned coins usually end up in MS61 slabs. The Walker you linked very well might have been dipped - which is not the same as cleaning. All grading services grade properly dipped coins.
From what I've heard from many of my friends that are coin dealers, PCGS is one of the best in coin grading. Myself, I really like thier slabs because they are so easy to cut open.
Thanks for the cleaning/ dipping distinction and the other answers provided. I'll probably send all of my raw coins in for grading at some point.
One other question. The coin I linked: http://www.teletrade.com/lotimgs/coins/22/02/c22021261-a.jpg Tell me if I'm seeing this right. It appears the obverse has a huge thumb print in the middle of the coin. See how the luster is broken up. It appears ,with my limited knowledge , to be in the shape of a thumb print. Or is it something else.
I don't think that's a thumb print, it's just too big. A lot of times coins have a halo look around the central device when the luster is very strong and that is what this looks like to me. Basically when the metal flows into the deepest parts of the die during striking it leaves microscopic evidence of that flowing and this is what causes the halo effect.
