Card altering...what is happening in the coin market.

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Posted By: Harry Wallace (HW)

http://www.ncscoin.com/

This company is owned by NGC, one of the largest and most respected coin grading companies. I believe that they are also the parent company of SGC.

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

So they CLEAN the coin in a manner that is UNDETECTABLE... but they only slab it as "Genuine" and do NOT assign it a grade.

BUT...

there is NOTHING to STOP someone from removing the coin from the slab and then submitting it for actual GRADING once it has been cleaned.


Unless -- and I cannot tell this from reading the site -- perhaps they DO have a way of telling whether a coin submitted for grading HAS been through this cleaning process??

Just like I assume PSA would have a way of detecting "bleached" cards if they suddenly started a business that offered to "bleach and slab as authentic" all of your old cards.

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Posted By: jay behrens

They just need to use the system they already have in place for comic books. Keep the green label for cards that they deem unaltered/undoctored and use a red label for cards that are doctored or altered in anyway and make a note on the label what that is. It's such a simple solution and would generate so much extra revenue. It's a matter if a company should do it, but when. The first company to start doing this is going to generate a lot of extra business. They already gone to AUTH grade, just throw that out and start using the system they have in place for comics. AUTH is nice, but it still doesn't tell you why it didn't grade.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: barrysloate

It's very hard to clean a coin without some expert being able to detect it. It causes either an unnatural patina or in some cases causes surface striations that can be seen under magnification. If a grader misses that a coin has been cleaned he certainly goofed.

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Posted By: identify7

If you want an unaltered coin, a good source is the U.S. Mint.
Coins are artfully altered by methods including dipping, putting them in potatoes and heating them up in the oven, and the employment of multiple, sometimes exotic techniques designed to produce an even luster, interesting or attractive toning, brilliant shine, and other surface characteristics which will motivate sales.

If you are knowledgable and careful in numismatics, you have a chance of getting what you pay for. But original condition unaltered coins are traded among knowledgable collectors, generally. These collectors typically have areas of specialty. The range of specialization covers seeking altered coins (such as hobo nickles) through preserving historical examples of US coinage which include cents and half cents from the 18th century.