What Happens If A TPG Damages Your Coin?

There was a thread where this very thing happened a couple years ago to a CCF member. It was a big ordeal. Maybe a mod can dig it up and post a link to it.

Guys, I'm sure they would be honest and pay out. They have insurance for these things. That's why you pick a tier and estimate the value. That value is what they insure it for while in their custody. Now unless it's a huge dollar coin why wouldn't they pay out on what I'm assuming is the relatively small occasions where an employee damages a coin. I highly doubt they would risk the hassel and possible damage to their reputation by public lawsuit for what amounts to pennies

I think the post on this topic was from a collector from Australia, and the dealer that submitted his coin to PCGS had under insured the coins value (to save submission fees) and PCGS only pays out the insured value..

I could be wrong, but I believe that was the outcome of the CCF Thread.

When ANACS started in DC back in the early 70's, they were so concerned that people would claim they switched or damaged a coin that each coin was photographed and weighed to 3 decimal places. I have been told that all the floors were carpeted also.

Weights and photos are not necessary anymore however some TPGS do photo some coins and with the advent of "slab-view" type confirmation, most/all? probably are.

As to damage, the TPGS is responsible and know it is good business. I believe most grading service damage is in the form of hairlines that probably happened during assembly of the slab. I do know for a fact that everyone is told to report ANY damage they do to a customer's coin and it is recorded. Now, I cannot say if any "damage" (unless it is very noticeable) is reported to the customer; but if the coin is returned for something that happened to it, to the best of my LIMITED hearsay - it is taken care of in one way or the other. So put your mind to rest. Accidents happen but not often.

PS coins are tough. Buy a cheap Proof clad quarter and throw it against the wall a few times. Bet you will not see much change...

Hi all.
This actually happeded to me yesterday.
I have, on two seperate occations, submitted a France 2001 Ultime Franc gold coin.
The first got back,a SP67, all nice and sealed in a thicker slab than normal, since the coin is warped.

The one I got back yesterday was in a normal slab, which made the coin touch the plastic, and when sonically sealed, made pemanent damage to the coin.
This damage was made when in PCGS's care since the photos you see when you look up the cert# show a supernice SP68 with no damage on the high points on either side.

I will keep you updated on what happens....

Here is the coin, slab etc.

Yeah, I hope so too.
I'm glad I didn't put a $15 value on it as the older case talked about in this thread.

Weird how it got through the final inspection, or the slabbing guy to begin with. I assume the two pieces of the slab wouldn't lie totally flat against each other when sealed. that should be a hint to get a thicker slab...
I hate the fact that it ruins not only the coin, but also the aesthetic beauty of the coin, it being matte, warped and a "clean" design without many details on it.


hmm, just noticed the small ding about 2/3s up on the left of the "1". That little ding doesn't show up on the pictures when you look up the cert#

Got the first update in, what I'm afraid of, will be alot of frustrationsd and emailing back and forth...




Update again: After really questioning their numismatic competence and how the heck they were supposed to reslab the coin and undo the damage, they changed directions in their emails and instead said they would apply their guarantee on it and keep the coin.

That said, I decided to keep the coin after all for a few reasons.

-The coin isn't easliy obtainable
-The value I declared doesn't really match the actual value.