Hi -- I've never really been much of a coin collector, but I recently came across an interesting looking coin in an old bag of unadorned change that I believe is very rare. After researching it, it seems that the status of it is up in the air (it may be an unauthorized proof or what have you). Because of this, I'm hesitant to post any pictures (or even mention the details of the coin itself). Is there any company I took take it to to confirm and grade, that would respect my confidentiality? Thanks for the help! Sorry about being so vague.
Do all of those companies really respect privacy? I read somewhere that NGC (among others I can't remember) will report a specimen to the secret service if it's confirmed to be one of those questionable coins. Also, do any of the companies offer a grading service where I could personally deliver the coin and have it graded right then and there? I wouldn't want to have it out of my sight.
Welcome to Coin Talk. I don't know of any reason why you wouldn't want to post a photo here since there probably isn't any more private method of getting an opinion about the grade. The second best alternative is to take it to a local coin shop.
Well the only coin I am aware of is the 1933 Saint Gaudens - that the government might come after. Odds are it is not an "unathorized proof". The best I can recommend is that you attend a coin show where the tpg's set up a booth and have one of them(NGC,ANACs,PCGS, ICG) confirm the coin is genuine.
More than likely, if it's something the Secret Service would find of interest, it probably has no numismatic value for one of two reasons.....it's a fake, or it's stolen. Guy~
post the picture at CT Take a nice photograph. Go to an Internet Cafe & post the picture at CT and ask for comments. Go home & review the subsequent comments. Best regards, collect89 P.S. I heard a story once about a gold Lincoln cent with GP on it. If this is what you have, then it is not an unautorized gold proof (GP). It would be a polished gold plated (GP) cent worth about 1 cent.
Thanks for all the input! The coin itself isn't exactly one-of-a-kind, but it's still pretty rare none the less (assuming it is genuine, which I believe it to be). So long as those grading companies have a decent privacy policy, I get it checked soon and report back.
ICG has graded coins that are kind iffy in the laws eyes....but then ICG has changed hands lately so that might not be the same team. My suggetion would be to go to a local Coin Shop and if they think it could be real then call the Gov. and ask for help. If you go at it the right way...it might not come back and bite you. I would suggest maybe getting legal advise first, if you should need to call the Gov. Speedy
One in particular was a bit more than kind of iffy. The Secret Service has said flat out that they will confiscate any 1974 aluminum cent they find. But this one sure got slabbed. Not only that, they even labeled it with the family's name. TO date, nothing has ever happened that I know of. And epoch2 - you can rest assured that if NGC or PCGS got a chance to slab some great rarity that they would fall over themselves to protect your identity. And they have stated flat out that they will not notify the authorities if someone sends them a coin that would likely be confiscated if it were known to exist.
i can i posted a picture here once of a pres $ with "no trust" and within minutes the picture was on e-bay on someones auction! google "Cloudsweeper99" and see how private it is.
Coin that might be liable to confiscation by the government, counterfeits, 1974 or 75 aluminum cents, 1984 copper clad steel cents, 1933 double eagles, 1964 D peace dollars and possibly 1942 patterns. There may be some others. The closest any of the services have to a "While you wait" grading is walkthrough service at a major show. But if it is something really new or unknown they are going to want and need to do some research of their own so they WON'T do a walkthrough on it. And none of them will allow you to come in and hang around for what might be a couple weeks while they research and grade it. A tremendous amount (about 99.99%) of so-called great new rarities that are discovered by non collectors do not turn out to be valuable at all and most of them are either counterfeits or altered coins. Without details, or pictures, we have to start from the assumption that it most likely one of those.
We are trying to protect the posters ID not the photo 1) drive to an internet cafe in a diffrent town, open a hotmail account with fake data, Join cointalk using a new also fake ID. Post the picture. (If the SS traces the IP address the will only find the internet cafe, Spray bleach on the keyboard to prevent a DNA search, shoot and kill all witnesses and employees in the cafe, don't drive past ATM's or red light cameras). 2) go home and log onto cointalk using your real name, Read comments. 3) Sell coin, hire lawyer...plan insanity defense for murder.
If the coin is illegal to own, I would agree. If it is just rare and valuable, it's paranoia in my opinion.
If it is just (?) an unauthorized proof, no problem. Unless it is a 1974 aluminum cnet or a 1933 double eagle you should be safe. If it is dated before say 1950, (just to pick a nice date), then you can be sure that (with the 1933 double eagle exception) you are surely safe. example: at one time it was presumed that the pattern coins could be declared illegal to own and the gov't could repo them. Since they have been openly traded for many years it is presumed that they are legal to own, even tho they were never 'monetized.'
If your only concern about posting a picture is that someone might steal the photo, just run it through a photo processor, or even MS Paint, and put a watermark or ID on it. For posting here, you could just write "stolen photo" across the middle, as long as you don't obscure important details. BTW, ebay prohibits using copyrighted photos and will pull an auction IF the photo owner reports it. You can take any actions you want with your coin but I would suggest that you be a little more forthcoming with us here. If we could see what you're talking about maybe we could save you a bit of time and trouble trying to get certification on something we would recognize as not worth certification.
i just meant that CT was a very public place,he could always pm a pict to doug or someone. but try searching for anyone's screen name and you'll find links to CT and other boards that they use the same name
