A 1903 Saint Gaudens? Really?

Presumably they didn't know they were stolen, but that aside, there's something fishy-sounding about that "spokesperson's" reply.

In my mind, this story doesn't make any sense and it doesn't add up.

"If the grader is not someone we trust, the cases are cracked open and the coins are sent out to be melted down." This really is suspect. So an 1804 silver dollar in a PCGS or NGC holder may be deemed "not someone we trust", and melted down for silver. More than fishy, one would suspect there are more so-called "actors" involved in something like this. And why are they hiding behind the skirt of some PR person instead of speaking for themselves? Just my opinion.

Chumley did it.

If they didn't pay the customer a numismatic premium for their coins, then melting them down and selling as bullion allows them to turn their purchases to cash quicker than selling individual coins.

Once it gets melted nobody knows what came from where.

One story is almost five years old.

Two we have no idea what was really in the collection other than a non-existant double eagle, some Morgans from the 1880's of unstated condition (we all know of plenty of Morgans from the 1880's that are worth little more than melt) and some 1 oz gold buffalos which are just bullion and which could very easily account for most of the value.

Three apparently most everything was just generic bullion type items, pretty much difficult or impossible to prove ownership of specifically. Were they melted? Probably not, just sold as bullion.

Four we have no idea if the coins were graded or not, the comment about cracking out slabs or other items in other holders other than slabs is pretty common practice everywhere, and they siad that for the slabs they crack out those from graders they don't trust. In other words probably everything OTHER than PCGS and NGC, maybe ANACS. The comment about cracking a PCGS 1804 dollar and melting it for silver is silly.

Five the problem of holding requirements for pawn shops and other buyers of gold and silver type bullion items. The bullion market is volatile and can go through large swings over a three to four month holding period. So buyer either have to be able to move new purchases rapidly, or they are going to pay lowball prices.