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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,741 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
646 Posts |
I recently got back two submissions from PCGS that were very disappointing to me. The first submission contained a Lincoln Cent in a slab which was not fully sealed. The outer casing can't come apart but the rubber insert with the coin is rattly and rotates and the label is completely falling out of place. The second submission was a Reholder to have varieties attributed. One coin was a 1928 S quarter with the FS-501, clearly showing the major die crack through the date and one through the motto which help to identify it. The second was a 1936 nickel with the DDO FS-102 variety. Both of these were returned with no varieties added to their labels. All these problems make me wonder where my hundreds of dollars are even going when I send coins in to PCGS? I emailed them about the varieties and got the usual "whatever the graders say is final" and I am yet to contact them on the loose slab. Unsealed slab:  1928 S Quarter FS-501:   1936 Nickel DDO FS-102:    |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Have you contacted PCGS express your issues? It is a very simple process.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
646 Posts |
As I said, I contacted them and got a copy-and-paste response that can be summed up by "we understand it's frustrating to not get the results you want, but our graders decisions are final". I just feel it's important to share the possible problems other people could face going into sending coins to PCGS, especially when it costs hundreds of dollars to do so.
Edited by CherryPicker1
08/09/2023 9:29 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4680 Posts |
I feel your pain!! May post at some point, but a couple months ago, myself and two other CCF members did a group sub, both myself and 1buff2many had 9 2Feather buffalos on the sub (mostly belonging to 1Buff2many) and not a single one was attributed! They attributed all of our DDO's, RPM's, and 3 leg correct, but not a single 2 feather. Was and still is VERY frustrating. Especially considering they have images of said examples, exact same die markers, same die state, and they STILL claim them to not be said varieties. I too went back and forth with customer service. Generic reply by someone who likely knows nothing about coins, and was told it is what it is and the graders do not agree. I would agree, both your examples are the variety you submitted them for. Sadly, PCGS' customer service is where a lot of other big corporations end up... generic auto replies and responses with no resolution once they have your money. May give NGC a shot, but won't hold my breath. ANACS always seems to have the best customer service, but not the biggest fan of the yellow labels. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
646 Posts |
Glad someone else understands the frustration. That's one of the big predicaments I have with selling graded coins- PCGS is expensive, slow, inconsistent, and does not have good customer support, but for a lot of coins the value plummets if it's not in a PCGS slab. I'll probably just have to resubmit these coins in another Reholder submission and hope the variety specialists take a better look this time.
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Valued Member
United States
187 Posts |
I've had similar issues with PCGS, specifically around variety submissions. They were clearly not ready for the pandemic burst of submissions and scrambled to hire less than qualified graders, specifically those with deficient variety experience. The worst thing a company can do that relies on detailed grading is to show inconsistency, especially when that same company positions themselves as the creme de la creme of the grading services. I bought into the hype and 'Brand' but let my membership lapse last year because of these issues. This has been going on for a while too... look no further than their own Trueview images by variety, which are LITTERED with false attributions. As a consumer the best thing I can do to send a message is, vote with my wallet, and I can tell you PCGS will no longer earn my business.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
646 Posts |
I ran into another problem in the submission (which was more caused by a lack of due diligence on my part). I sent in a 1950 proof half dollar looking for QDO FS-101 but instead received "minor variety: doubled die obverse". This confused me at first because the spread on the letters was significant and matched almost every example in Coinfacts and every example I had seen graded at auction. But after looking into it, I realized that almost every coin PCGS had attributed, including the many in Coinfacts, were misattributed. This frustrates me that PCGS not only has done almost no due diligence on their part when attributing this variety, but they've left up all of the misattributed examples on Coinfacts, a website that's meant to help as a resource for identifying coins. All you have to do is look at the examples on Coinfacts for the 1919 nickel DDO FS-101 to see just how careless they've gotten variety attributions. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
Quote:
I'll probably just have to resubmit these coins in another Reholder submission So you're going to give them more money? That part I don't understand. If your goal is to have them formally attributed, I'd send them to ANACS. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
646 Posts |
I'm having these coins be attributed so I can resell them. The unfortunate truth is that they worth significantly less in ANACS or NGC holders to the point that it's still more financially viable to send them to PCGS multiple times. I do wish the market would give those other companies the value that they're, in my opinion, worthy of. Edit: I should also add that not all companies attribute the same varieties. For example, all three major TPGS attribute the 1936 nickel DDO FS-102, however only PCGS recognizes the 1928 S quarter FS-501. Edited by CherryPicker1
08/10/2023 10:40 am
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Moderator
 United States
187446 Posts |
I seem to recall someone recently getting a slab back unsealed like that. I need to find that topic.
As for the labeling, is this a case where you had to tick a box buried deep down on a form to get the variety listed?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
646 Posts |
The submission was done through their online portal. All coins had "variety attribution" checked and the invoice reflects that. I wrote down what varieties I was requesting in the multiple "notes" sections of the form. I even emailed PCGS beforehand and they told me to write what variety I was requesting in the notes section.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Looks like you did what you were supposed to do and they confirmed it with you. You are clearly in the right here. They need to make you whole.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,741 |
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Posted 08/09/2023 9:27 pm
