I recently purchased through an auction house a 1876 3cent PR-64 coin. From a casual glance the coin appears fine. http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/jjenno/DSCF0303.jpg http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/jjenno/DSCF0308.jpg But on closer inpection the coin has numerous spots on it. Especially on the reverse. It is in a PCGS holder. I adjusted the lighting in this next picture which clearly highlights the spots. Took awhile to do so. http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/jjenno/DSCF0383.jpg My question is could this have happened after the coin was graded by PCGS and should I return it? Or can spots like this exist and a coin still recieve a PR64 grade? I'm trying to decide if I should ship it back.
What makes you think it happened after it was graded by PCGS---??....but either way---it could have been there before or after....the slabs aren't air tight so most anything can happen to them. I wouldn't.....I really don't think these spots are going to hurt the grade of a PF64---now if it was a PF66 or higher then yes it would but a PR64 isn't going to matter that much with some spots. BUT--if you are un-happy with it then by all means ship it back. Speedy
No, but let me explain. Spots like that are often found on Proofs of the time period. They are inherent to the alloy of the metal. As for returning it - only you can decide that. If you're not happy with the coin, then do so. As explained above yes. What I'm having a hard time with is understanding how they gave such a weakly struck coin a grade of PF64. There is almost no detail whatsoever on the obverse
I found in a few of my books where they said the early 3 cent nickel proofs were very prone to spotting. After looking at a few others in other autions many of them show the same type of spotting for that grade. Some worse. Although the image of this coin at the auction house showed no signs of spotting even when zoomed. It may be just the picture I took. Doesn't look that bad in person. Its such a small coin its hard to get a good picture. Plus I was using some metal halide lamps that are extremely bright. Here it is under a regular bulb. http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/jjenno/DSCF0386.jpg and they did grade it 64 http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/jjenno/DSCF0318.jpg I think I probably will keep it. After paying shipping and there being a fee to return it plus more shipping costs I might as well. You really can't notice the spots unless looking very closely. I'll be more inclined in the future to buy proofs graded higher and from coin shows or other places where I can observe them first. Thanks for all the responses. :hail:
