PCGS "Questionable Authenticity" on 1882 $3 Gold piece

There may be some legal issues if a professional labels a coin "counterfeit". I suspect the legal issues are more vague if the professional labels a coin "questionable". I am not qualified to comment on any laws or these TPG practices.



TPGs may just want to avoid confiscating coins & passing them onto the Secret Service.

 

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I think confiscation only applies to copies of legal tender represented to be the real thing. Is the $3 piece still legal tender?

 

Any US coin that was once legal tender still is, same with currency, with maybe tiny exceptions. We are nearly unique in the world in this regard.

I agree with Collect that I believe its legality why they say questionable. Anyone can refuse to accept something and say its questionable, once you say its counterfeit you possibly open yourself up to slander, etc.

 

They told me they say "questionable authenticity" for insurance purposes.

 

They do, but only use it on coins in the Secure plus submissions as far as I know. So if this coin went in on a regular tier without the Secure plus, it would have never done gotten sniffed.

 

The sniffer and the laser surface recording is 2 separate devices. I do not believe the laser recorder is used to produce a visible image ( why they still take a photo) as much as a datbase matrix of points for comparison later. Any alterations after the first recording would change the data points and set off an alarm. IMO.

Jim

 

The declaration of "questionable authenticity" is not stating that the coin is fake or counterfeit.
That statement simply means that they will not, and/or, cannot confirm that the coin is genuine.
Their action with this coin is commonly referred to by the acronym "CYA".
PCGS does not want to put their reputation on the line by calling it genuine and later having it proven to be counterfeit.

 

I would tell the dealer you bought it from and ask about a possible refund.

 

I would ask the dealer to have it authenticated, after all he sold it to you. I'm sure that they would want to stand behind what they sold to you, if not, I would find a new dealer.

 

Right, they and the others got a real bloody nose with the whole Micro-O fiasco. They have rewards for those coins to come back into their possession - they want to get rid of all they can - makes them all the more desirable. I want one.

 

All I gotta say is if PCGS wouldn't authenticate a gold coin for me I would want to locate a mass metals spectrometer. They are highly accurate and tell you exactly what is in the coin, case closed with one of those. Someone in your area has to have one. Try the higher end jewelry stores, just a thought. :thumb:

 

How so, given that many counterfeits were struck from metal produced by melting genuine common-date gold issues?

I'd trade beat-up common-date eagles all day long for the equivalent face value of $3 golds. I'm sure counterfeiters felt the same way.

 

Preposterous.
1. Yes you pay for the service of "Grading" the coin. They did grade it Fake.
2. He did ask for an explanation...they gave it Fake.
3. If you read the contract when you submit coins with them or others you will see they are covered by this.

Thousands of coins cross their tables a day. There is no way that a coin will be remembered week later unless it's like a 1913 nickel. And then most of the normal graders would not get it but the "lead Graders would".

As for notes on each coin, I would not want that as the grading cost are already high enough and to take the time that it would take to leave the same notes over and over it would probably double the grading cost.

Here's probably all the notes would say in the first place. "

[h=2]"Questionable Authenticity" This coin looks to be questionable of it's authenticness. PCGS has deemed that this coin does not pass our stringent guidlines to call this coin authentic because of it's strike, tooling, metal content, weight, surfaces and others by our professionals.[/h]

 

"Questionable authenticity" does not mean fake or counterfeit.
The coin could, in fact, be genuine, but, for whatever reason, they are not sure.

 

This is probably the most enlightening thread I've seen so far on this site. I'm relatively new and don't have anything real to add, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for giving me an ever deepening respect for numismatics.

 

I see it the same way and will add. They don't want to buy it back if it is fake. The TPGs spend a lot of money buying back coins. I can't blame them for not taking the risk. It would be cool to get a report of each graders thoughts but few would be willing to pay for that level of service. When PCGS or NGC call something questionable, others will think the same, down the road.

 

They sent it back questioning the authenticity. They have reasons and to jot down a few simple words is not too difficult (i.e weight, size, etc.). SIMPLE.

 

Actually I believe that PCGS now labels all counterfeit coins as "questionable authenticity". This keeps them from having to turn over counterfeit coins to the Feds.

These guys know their stuff... The coin is not genuine and sending it to NGC will prove to be just a waste of money.

 

If the grader tells you what is wrong with the coin and how determined it is fake won't counterfeit operation use that to its advantage and fix that coin on the next iteration? So it is not really a good idea to reveal why it received Questionable authenticity.