1986 Statue Of Liberty Half In Aacgs Slab

Need photos of whole coin. Both sides please

From all outward appearances, AACGS (American Alliance Coin Grading Service) was a private/in-house service that encapsulated and graded US coins for its own sale. The service was active until at least 2014 (based on the dates known on coins placed in AACGS holders).

While certainly not on par with true, open-to-the-public third-party grading ( TPG) services such as PCGS, NGC or ANACS, it does seem like the private service had decent funding/backing as it created a custom holder for its coins vs. using widely-available generic coin holders and just putting a custom-printed insert into them.

Over the years, I have personally inspected coins in AACGS holders at coin shows (out of curiosity more than anything else) and will say that often times the grades assigned were OK. Yes, I definitely saw some overgraded coins, but more than a handful appeared to be accurately graded after inspection with a coin glass. Bottom line, inspect all coins in these holders and judge for yourself - you might be able to purchase an accurately graded coin at a reduced price because of the holder!

Here's an interesting video from YouTube about the accuracy of AACGS grades:



FWIW, PF-65 is not a high grade when it comes to modern US Mint product (it's a segment in which PF-68 is often considered a poor grade), so unless the coin has been mistreated, the grade of PF 65 for your coin might not be all that bad - it might even be conservative. Better images will help all of us provide more informed opinions!

I think it would have been worth a whole lot more to a slab collector who was building a set of basement slabbers if it was left in the original slab.

Now that it is raw it is a $1 coin at best.