Certification Without Slabbing?

trout1105, I suppose these are other issues. The relevant issue is that these coins are proofs. The early (pre-commercial) proofs look very different from those that followed and cannot be judged by the same standards. I would suggest that they were routinely polished as part of the production process then in use. How they should be graded and priced are matters that I haven't actually looked into myself, so I read what you write with interest.

Going back 50 years I imagine that giving a coin a rub with a cloth was an acceptable practice .
There were only 16 of these minted so they ARE a rare and valuable coin But that doesn't mean that at some time this hasn't had a "touch up".
I'm waiting for neileffendi to chime in on this

In todays market I would say just about every buyer that didn't have the ability to look at this coin "in Hand" and make a qualified judgment on it would Baulk at buying this "Unseen" as a raw coin over the internet.

At $22,500 if you are not 100% certain of the grade and authenticity of a coin it is time to "Walk Away as far as I am concerned

Why put a load on my shoulders Trout?
I can't see those coins being PR66. Look at emus 1945P. It looks magnificent and doesn't have the issues of these proofs. Still only rated PR64.
There are dealers who would sell those coins raw, but you have to ask yourself that old expression Que Bono?(for the Neanderthals out there it means To Whose Benefit?).Basebal21 has it right, why would a dealer do himself out of tens of thousands of dollars for the sake of saving on slabbing. The prices they are on offer for seem reasonable for their condition.

Most buyers like their 5 figure coins to be authenticated and protected in a slab. These are the exact type of coins that the unbiased 3rd party appraisal was designed for. There seems to be a disconnect between the grade being given and how its priced as well. I suspect that their opinion of the grade would change if you were trying to sell it to them or it was someone elses coins.

But actually theres another huge red flag here. I went to their website you linked and they have a section for PCGS graded coins they sell. So the question becomes why has this one not been sent when they clearly use the TPG services? It may very well be a proof but theres a reason why these are being sold raw while they have 12 pages of PCGS coins being sold many of which cost several thousand dollars.

It wouldnt be the first time someone with a high reputation like that sold a coin raw instead of what the slab would say knowing they could get more to line their pockets a while immediately placing the buyer under water with a price they could never hope to recover in the near future. Id be far more likely to buy the their buyers like raw coins angle if they didnt have 100s of slabbed coins and a PCGS section on their website as well as a PCGS filter on their searches.

jimjamtwo, most major sellers with a strong online sales position want to attract as many potential buyers as possible. Perhaps a few old timers would be repelled by slabs, but even those guys could do a Trout BC (before conversion to slabs) and crack them out when they buy them.
Other collectors, and investors in particular would appreciate having a grade confirmed.
If Andrew was an old school dealer and didn't slab any coin then it would make sense that he didn't slab this coin. But he isn't old, he slabs lots of coins and most tellingly he didn't use the term Gem Proof that non slabbers use but PR66, a term only yanks and slabbers use.

The ONLY way this will happen is if you send the coin off to NGC/PCGS.
They will grade and attribute it and SLAB it, It is entirely up to you if you want to crack it out of the slab when you get it back

You have to realize tho if you crack the coin out of the slab ALL provenance is lost