BStrauss3's Last 20 Posts

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Putting all this info in one place. Courtesy of collector universe and coin talk.

@insider2 posted:

"The International Numismatic Society (INS) was established in DC around 1975 - 76 (I forgot) by Charles Hoskins and a group of well-established US, world, and ancient coin dealers when ANACS left DC and Hoskins (the Director of ANACS) and most of the staff elected to stay behind. Chuck and I worked at INS's Authentication Bureau. We authenticated ancients, tokens, medals, and coins from any country or era. INSAB was the service that authenticated the 1870-S Half dime after it was discovered. The INS had several yearly conventions with auctions in Washington, DC.

Before leaving ANACS Charlie and I were at the first grading roundtable where plans were being made for the ANA to start grading coins after the publication of a grading guide. ANACS was moved to CO before the guide was published. INS was the FIRST THIRD-PARTY COIN GRADING SERVICE beating the ANA by several months. Charlie and I graded coins for free upon request an sent out our opinion on a separate card from the Photo Certificate of Authenticity. As soon as the ANA started charging folks for a grading opinion we began charging extra for grading. Unfortunately, The ANA system of grading had some major flaws - chief of which was to combine the amount of wear on a coin with the number of marks. Additionally, while they claimed to have a technical grading system, no one there actually had a clue as they were never taught the system so they bastardized it. Then one day one-day coins graded MS-65 became MS-63's when they had to conform to the marketplace.

We used the "technical grading system" I devised for the internal records of ANACS when I worked there. This "true" technical system was based on the old standards of "No trace of wear." Since it was very strict, the grading was very precise with no wiggle room and very little subjectivity. The system was designed so that a coin would always be the same grade over time as long as its condition did not change. We were only concerned with its condition of preservation from when it was struck so a flat strike and eye appeal were not that important. The system was to identify a coin along with a weight and photo - NOT TO PLACE A VALUE ON IT. That was the job of the coin dealers. Obviously, this did not work in the marketplace. Nevertheless, INSAB stayed in business until the early 1990's. I left in the late 1980's."

From Conder101 on NGC boards:

INS was the second authentication service. They started up in 1975 just a couple years after ANACS (ANACS started in 1972 not 1974 as the MyCoinCollecting site says.) It was based in Washington DC, the same place as ANACS at the time. There earliest holders used Polaroid images of the coins and the certification was on a separate certificate, at first a postcard size and then later an 8 1/2 X 11 one ith much more detail about the coin. In 1976 Charles Hoskins left as director of ANACS and moved to INS where he became the company President. In 1979 they added grading to their certificates as well.

@PerryHall
In 1985 they licensed the use of the photoslab shells from Accugrade and began produced slabbed coins. The one Prudden posted is either an INS-3 or and INS-4 slab the difference being the addition of a serial number on the back of the INS-4.

In 1992 the company relocated to Philadelphia PA. The slabs changed to an orange label and the words Authentication Bureau were replaced with a Coin Capsule logo.

The last INS slab seen dates from 1997. The company has relocated once again and I now in Aston PA. The label is now a yellow orange and the INS has a new logo. At this point I think the company was now little more than Charles Hoskins just doing soe slabbing on the side. Aston PA is the last known address I have for him. INS -5 slabs from Philadelphia are few and far between, then with the five year jump before the INS-6 slab is probably a good indication that the company was pretty much defunct. Only one example of the INS-6 slab has been seen.

The slab company information on the Error World Administrators page came from me. I gave Jan Schwenk the information in answer to a question from him, and he then "generously donated it" to the website without asking me. Later when someone pointed out the website to me I agreed they could keep it and provided the information on companies 74 through 83. They attributed the information to Kerridee which is my sister-in-laws craft company. (My computer was down and I provided the information through her computer.)

Had no idea 1904 $5 were hard to find.

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Does anyone know about FedEx / DHL / etc.? A lot of auction houses are shipping coins that way nowadays.

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712.12 Collecting Postal Service Fee for Each Package
The Postal Service collects the fee on each package bearing CBP Form 3419ALT. When a single mail entry form covers several packages, the Postal Service collects the fee only on the package bearing CBP Form 3419ALT. The CBP Form 3419ALT is enclosed in an orange adhesive-backed Treasury Department envelope attached to the outside wrapper or envelope. The form indicates the tariff item number, rate of duty, and amount of duty to be collected plus a customs processing fee, which is assessed on all dutiable mail shipments.