User:Oldaustraliancoins/sandbox

Caveat emptor (buyer beware) Conflict of interest Coin grades are opinions, opinions change for many reasons and factors, including the time of day. Should you be a new collector or intend to become one, choose the kinds of coins that mostly interested you. Before buying always do thorough research on any dealer or auctioneer to determine their levels of professionalism and integrity.

Leading Grading Services PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Services), NGC (Numismatic Guarantee Corporation) PCGS since its founding in 1986, Professional Coin Grading Service experts have certified over 26 million coins with a total market value of over $27 billion. PCGS now certifies the authenticity and grades of coins from over 100 countries. PCGS offers an unlimited lifetime guaranty of authenticity and grade. NGC (Numismatic Guarantee Corporation) revealed in 2010 that it had certified 20 million coins. Two years later, NGC announced that it has certified 25 million coins. By March 2013, more than 27 million coins had been graded by NGC.

Professionalism and Integrity I have always been bothered by the fact that PCGS executive management and others at the ownership level had concurrently operating rare coin business. Coins sold by these individuals were all, not unexpected, graded, {certified is my preference}, by PCGS. What's wrong with this picture? Anything? Indeed, everything is wrong. In fact, it's more than wrong; it's outright unethical. Conflict of interest arises whenever one undertakes a task in which he or they have an interest in the outcome of the task, {grading/certification}, to be performed. While I'm accusing no one of anything, the PCGS grading operation falls under "the aura and shroud of potential wrongdoing." Human nature being what it is who's to say that coins were given the grades that they should have, but instead got a higher grade because the coins being evaluated belonged to a PCGS owner?

Also The coin grading and authentication services are also biased toward provenance. If a wealthy, well-known collector once owned the coin, they typically grade it more leniently. Celebrity coins such as 1804 dollars receive grades 10 or 15 points higher than would be given the same coin type with a different date.

Why All the mainstream coin grading services offer guarantees that supposedly protect you if you buy a coin in one of their slabs and the coin turns out to be a lower grade than the grade on the slab's label or the coin has a problem. You're able to resubmit the coin (depending on the coin grading service, you may still have to pay the regular grading fee), and if the coin grading service agrees that the coin was over graded or has a problem, it will refund money to you, typically the difference between the market value of coin as it was graded and the actual market value. Occasionally resubmissions like this generate a sizable refund from a grading company. More often than not, according to anecdotal reports, the grading companies don't change their minds.

Grading Company Slabs Once a coin is “encapsulated” in its plastic “slab”, along with slips of paper indicating authenticity and giving the individual identification number from the grading company that allows you to check its value instantly online, it is supposed to be a highly reliable purchase, since you have a guarantee of value and the fact that it is genuine and therefore contains the proper amount of silver, among other things.

Grading Company The biggest problem with the established, mainstream coin grading and authentication services is that their standards appear to be arbitrary and inconsistent, which ironically leads to more revenue for them. You can resubmit the same coin different times and receive different grades each time, which causes some collectors and dealers to resubmit coins multiple times, paying a new grading fee each time, until they come back at the highest possible grade. Grading company standards have also loosened over time, creating an incentive for collectors and dealers to crack out coins from older coin slabs and spend more money reslabbing them.

In other Words There is no difference in the grading standards of any of these grading companies. Time and time we have submitted the same coin to all three of the grading companies and received the same grades. The only difference in these companies is in service and cost.

Problems with Counterfeit However, recent years have witnessed an explosion of sophisticated fake encapsulations, including a genuine identification number which has been taken from a real coin of the same type, in order to fool buyers who check online before purchasing. These counterfeit slabs are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing except to an expert’s eyes, and have even been sold on eBay. Most of the coins in these fake slabs are also fake but a few may be genuine coins placed in the slab in good faith by someone who was unaware that it was counterfeit. Unfortunately, a “slab” is no longer the steel-solid guarantee of authenticity it once was, and you will need to figure other elements in as well, including the reputation of the seller and so forth.

Take-Note Leading Grading Services Cleaning Coins NGC: has NCS Numismatic Conservation Service & PCGS: has PCGS Restoration cleaning there coins. In almost all instances when a doctored coin, in a PCGS or NGC holder is sold, the doctoring is not disclosed. Why? Because after NCS Numismatic Conservation Service & PCGS Restoration do their job (cleaning coins) they then send the coin to the Professional Coin Graders, the experts than grade & slab that coin the same as they would any other coin. In other words without a word on the slab its been touched in anyway.

Grading and Authenticity The grade indicated on a slab represents the opinions of no more than a few persons who examined the coin at the time it was submitted, and not the final word on the subject. � Coin Collecting Lawsuit Note: Though I've attempted to provide information that's as accurate and up-to-date as I can, additions and corrections are welcomed to any of the material I write.

The PCGS lawsuit against six named individuals and other not yet named individuals regarding coin doctoring is path breaking and earth shattering. Even if the PCGS does not prevail on all points or against all defendants, the educational value of this suit, and the impact that it will have on coin doctors, goes way beyond the fate of these defendants.

This lawsuit “is about winning the hearts and minds of collectors,” John Albanese exclaims. PCGS had to protect their shareholders, they had to protect collectors & they had to protect themselves. PCGS has become embarrassed by doctored coins in PCGS holders & have a right to protect their reputation. Years ago, when coin doctoring was rampant in the dealer community, had PCGS officials threatened a coin doctor with a lawsuit unless he stops submitting doctored coins to the PCGS, the threatened individual is likely to take the threat very seriously and believe that the PCGS might actually follow through with a suit, the coin doctor probably would have figured that PCGS officials were bluffing. I am almost certain that this is the first time that a grading service has sued some of its dealer-members for submitting coins that are allegedly doctored and misrepresented.

The costs of coin doctoring in terms of the risks involved are now much greater than they were before this lawsuit, even if it is never proven in court that these six defendants are involved in coin doctoring conspiracies. It is very expensive and emotionally painful to defend oneself against such a lawsuit, which here includes allegations of breach of contract, fraud, unfair business practices, and racketeering. ‘Win, Lose, or Draw,’ this lawsuit will be tremendously beneficial to coin collectors and will result in much fewer coins being doctored than would have otherwise been doctored.

John Albanese asserts that “coin doctoring is [ultimately] defrauding the consumer. It is illegal to pass off a doctored coin as a high quality coin or as a coin with no serious problems. If you buy a house,” John explains, “then the problems with the house should be disclosed. Realtors are bound to tell you. It is fraud not to disclose serious problems that relate to the value of the item. Coin doctoring [typically] involves an intent to deceive,” Albanese declares.

Although it became widely publicized when it was posted on CoinLink on Sat. May 29, this suit was filed a day or two earlier. Officially, the plaintiff is Collectors Universe, Inc., of which the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is a subsidiary. As the PCGS is the largest and most significant part of Collectors Universe, and is known to coin collectors throughout the world, I will here refer to the plaintiff as the PCGS, though this is not completely correct.

The defendants in this suit are alleged to have conspired in efforts, many times successful, to get the PCGS to assign numerical grades to doctored coins that are higher than the grades that were previously assigned or would have been assigned had the coins in question not been doctored. In the suit, the PCGS provides a list of a dozen coins that are said to be just a “few examples” (Section 14). Each of the named defendants is alleged to be either a dealer-submitter of doctored coins and/or a coin doctor who acted in concert with at least one dealer-submitter.

The PCGS lawsuit does assert that doctoring U.S. or foreign “legal tender” coins “is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C §331,” which is abbreviated in the lawsuit as follows, “Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens any of the coins minted at the mints of the United States … [or] … Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish or sell … any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled or lightened … Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years or both.”

It is thus argued in the lawsuit that someone who doctors a coin and/or someone who knowingly submits a doctored coin to the PCGS for grading is committing a crime, which is much more than a civil offense. It is not necessary for this argument to be accepted in order for the PCGS to win. Indeed, the PCGS does not have to prevail on all counts in order to win this civil suit.

The strongest arguments by the plaintiff may relate to the ‘breach of contract’ accusation, as each dealer-submitter agreed, in a contract with the PCGS, not to submit any doctored coins for PCGS grading. “Dealer and PCGS agree that PCGS would suffer irreparable damages if Dealer were to engage in coin ‘doctoring’ and that PCGS shall be entitled to not only compensatory damage but also [other legal measures against the Dealer] for any breach of the Dealer’s obligation not to ‘doctor’ coins or knowingly submit doctored coins to PCGS.”

Suppose, hypothetically, that an expert dealer submitted a substantial number of doctored coins to the PCGS for grading. Would much (if any) additional evidence be needed to prove that such an expert-submitter ‘knowingly’ submitted doctored coins?

So far, I have reported that the PCGS has claimed that the defendants have committed fraud and ‘breach of contract.’ The PCGS has made addition allegations, including “willfully, fraudulently, [and] maliciously” violating provisions in the California Business & Professions Code, and forming conspiracies, which I take to refer to allegations that the defendants worked in pairs or teams.

As it is widely recognized in the coin collecting community that coin doctoring constitutes fraud (except perhaps in the very rare instances where such doctoring is fairly disclosed), the two most curious and potentially explosive allegations are the first two counts. The PCGS alleges that the defendants “acts constitute an actionable wrong” under the Lanham Act, and the PCGS alleges racketeering under RICO statutes.

The Real Coin Doctors Is Coin Doctoring A Crime? Though there is no perfect definition of coin doctoring it is not clear whether coin doctoring is a crime.

Remember Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens any of the coins minted at the mints of the United States Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish or sell … any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired diminished, falsified, scaled or lightened … Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years or both.”

Without a doubt Because The PCGS and the NGC the two leading grading services of U.S. coins, each place coins in sealed, hard plastic holders and assign numerical grades to submitted coins that qualify for numerical grades after NCS: Numismatic Conservation Service & PCGS Restoration do whatever they wanna call it to any coin without a word on the slab its been touched in anyway makes them in my view guilty of the above.

BUT Since the modifications of a doctored coin are rarely disclosed, coin doctoring is usually fraudulent, largely because the intent is to deceive and to ‘counterfeit’ not an entire coin, but some desirable characteristics of a coin. Coin doctors are ‘counterfeiting’ positive characteristics of a coin. For example, a doctored coin may appear to be free of contact marks and hairlines in the right obverse (front) field, yet these are really there but are masked by added substances. A choice quality right obverse field is being counterfeited. Likewise, attractive blue, purple and green toning is often counterfeited.

AND I have never felt comfortable with the definition that often floats about the coin collecting community. Nonetheless, has some merit and widely accepted: Taking something off a coin is conservation; adding something to a coin is doctoring.’ So, removing dirt, grime, toning, organic matter, or even a layer of metal via dipping, is ‘conservation,’ according to this definition. Adding metal, plastics, auto body putty, colored substances, gels, films, and a variety of other things, constitutes doctoring. In my view, some so called conservation practices damage coins, sometimes irreparably. I admit, however, that a majority of influential dealers (though perhaps not most knowledgeable collectors) view a wide range of conservation practices as being legitimate. From my inquiries, however, I conclude that more than 95% of knowledgeable collectors and leading dealers, agree that coin doctoring, as defined above or below, is damaging and usually fraudulent.

But Beware Dealer’s obligation not to ‘doctor’ coins or knowingly submit doctored coins to PCGS.” Suppose, hypothetically, that an expert dealer submitted a substantial number of doctored coins to the PCGS for grading. Would much (if any) additional evidence be needed to prove that such an expert or submitter ‘knowingly’ submitted doctored coins?

BUT NGC: has NCS Numismatic Conservation Service & PCGS: has PCGS Restoration "Cleaning there Coins" PCGS: Restoration is committed to restoring coins to their natural and original condition; NCS Numismatic Conservation Service is uniquely qualified to meet the conservation needs. Both PCGS Restoration NCS Numismatic Conservation Service been claiming they should not be confused with "Coin Doctoring” Both PCGS and the NGC support the cleaning of coins if it's done properly, that is, if it doesn't damage the coin.

AND According to the PCGS, coin doctoring “involves the alteration of the appearance of a coin to attempt to increase its value, and may involve: adding substances to coins (such as putty, wax, facial oils, petroleum jelly or varnish); treating coins with chemicals (such as potash, sulfur, cyanide, iodine or bleach); heat treating coins in any way to alter their appearance; re-matting (“skinning”) Proof gold; ‘tapping’ and ’spooning’ (i.e. physically moving surface metal to hide marks); filing rim nicks; or repairing coins (re-tooling metal).