On Jan 16, 5:51*pm, "Bruce Remick" wrote:
"Reality" wrote in message

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On Jan 16, 6:29 am, "Bruce Remick" wrote:





"Reality" wrote in message

...
On Jan 15, 8:10 pm, "Bruce Remick" wrote:

"Reality" wrote in message

....

What is the deal with this nonsense?

When I submit a coin to PCGS, I want to know if it is genuine, the
grade, and if it is original.

IMO if you are paying the supposed leading expert graders in the
industry a $30 grading fee plus shipping both ways, then their
"Genuine - Questionable Color" B.S is not an option. I'm paying them
to tell me one way or the other.

The color/toning is either ORIGINAL or NOT.

If they can't tell the difference, then what is their opinion worth?
IMO the grading fee should be refunded if their "experts" can't
discern the difference. It's a total ripoff otherwise.

Tell 'em we said to give you your money back. It's much less stressful
to
buy coins already graded by PCGS (and paid for by someone else) than to
send
them your own coins and hold your breath waiting.

The point is, why should *anyone* get ripped off in that manner?
===========

If you do some homework first, you're less likely to get "ripped off".
Sending a coin to a TPG like PCGS can be a crapshoot unless you're someone
who's experienced with that sort of thing. Before spending that money
maybe
it would have saved any disappointment if you'd showed the coin first to a
couple reputable dealers who might have cautioned you about your coin's
questionable color and how PCGS might respond to it. You didn't say if you
did submit the coin through a dealer or if you're a "member". If it was
through a dealer, maybe you've got a gripe with that dealer for not
advising
you as to what PCGS might conclude.

No one should get ripped off in that manner, and there are many ways to
minimize the chance.

I sent it in through a very experienced dealer. *The coin was an 1882-
CC PL Morgan Dollar with rainbow toning. *I bought the coin from
another reputable dealer over 20 years ago and it has been in my safe
deposit box since. *No one at the shop had any problems with it and
neither did I.

My question is why didn't PCGS just say that their opinion was that
the coin was recolored? *(They would be wrong BTW.)
------------

Unless you owned the coin since 1882, how do you know how or when it
acquired its toning? *PCGS apparently cited "questionable coloring", and I
would probably be as ****ed as you were to have spent all that dough
expecting it to be slabbed. *I doubt they felt it was "recolored" since that
would imply it once had coloring which was removed and reapplied
artificially later. *But then who knows?

I would say people have been doctoring coins for as long as there has
been a demand for the specific type of effect being created.

When I bought this particular coin in the mid 80s, there were more raw
than slabbed coins being offered at every shop and show that I
attended. I have seen hundreds of toned coins, and never had any
doubts about this one being original, as most artificially toned coins
that I saw during the 80s were either "baked potatoes" or had been
exposed to some type of sulfer source. BTW, this one hasn't changed
as far as I can tell over the time I've owned it, unlike what most
doctored coins tend to do.


There have been many interesting discussions here about artificial toning-- *
especially the definition and the difference from "natural toning". *But it
all comes down to what the professional graders think with a particular coin
in hand, since they're the ones who decide whether the coin rates a slab or
not. *Maybe the best advice would be to stay away from excessively toned
coins, unless you like them raw or they're already slabbed.

I agree with you, but I guess I'm just commenting on a frustrating
attempt to slab a coin I know well (in this case, merely to put in an
auction). Sadly though, my $30+ netted nothing more than a generic
"questionable" assessment rather than a specific decision.

I mean, isn't that why we submit coins? So that the so-called experts
can come down on one side of an issue or the other with a given coin?