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 Replies: 14 / Views: 2,415 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
8938 Posts |
As many of you know I've been working on my type set and have been trying to find examples that fit the holes I'm missing, and that are of high quality. Recently I've turned by focus more towards copper coin and have been trying to knock off a few of my coins in that department. I encountered this listing. https://www.collectorscorner.com/Pr...?id=48636303Here's the photo of the coin in that listing.  At first glance it appears to be an incredible coin with amazing color and luster, and that was my initial reaction. But I noticed some inconsistencies. Firstly, the PCGS logo appears washed out and appears as if it was oversaturated. Secondly, the spots on the obverse appeared unnaturally fluorescent, I've seen many Unc large cents with spots, non with that neon green. Naturally these set of alarm bells and I looked up the cert on PCGS. https://www.PCGS.com/cert/36390245 These coins are, with out a doubt, the same coin. The hit under the date proves so. As you can tell his photos are juiced to an incredible degree. This is not an isolated incident either, view these listings for confirmation. https://www.collectorscorner.com/Pr...?id=48636210https://www.collectorscorner.com/Pr...?id=48636218https://www.collectorscorner.com/Pr...?id=48636259Some of these are a bit less obvious. But with proofs it is apparent he tends to boost color and luster to improve their photographic appearance. Off of CC on his own website it's even worse. His pics: http://www.simcocoins.com/inventory...mint-luster/PCGS Pics: https://www.PCGS.com/cert/35013198I certainly won't be giving him a dime of my money, I hate when sellers try to pretty up their coins in post processing. Edited by GrapeCollects
10/06/2020 9:52 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7618 Posts |
Looks like the coin has magically disappeared from the CC website.
Send SIMCO Shepherd an email and air your concerns with him. We know for sure that the photos are getting doctored. I'd stay away from that seller, too!
Good detective work!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
8938 Posts |
Quote:
Looks like the coin has magically disappeared from the CC website. That's not what disappeared, he got wiped off of CC! Him, his listings, and his mention under the dealers tab all wiped off of the platform. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Good the more dishonest dealers that get wiped off web sites the better for all .  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3323 Posts |
Funny thing is, the original PCGS photos represent a MUCH prettier coin - can't understand why he would want to alter the pic to such a cartoonish degree.
"Nummi rari mira sunt, si sumptus ferre potes." - Christophorus filius Scotiae
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
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Funny thing is, the original PCGS photos represent a MUCH prettier coin - can't understand why he would want to alter the pic to such a cartoonish degree. Exactly what I was thinking. PCGS image files are HUGE. I wonder if they are processing them to reduce size and whatever software/method they are using is just not that good?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
Collectors Corner is run by Collectors Universe, the parent company of PCGS. So the lesson here is don't mess with OUR pictures!
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Wait, what?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8938 Posts |
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Wait, what? Yeah, PCGS is owned by Collectors Universe. NASDAQ: CLCT. According to their website they employee 450 people and have an annual revenue of $75M. The CEO is Joseph J. Wallace who earns a yearly salary of $700k |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7618 Posts |
CU is pretty serious about messing with their brand names and product reputations. Jason Bradford can attest to that with what transpired with the PCGS Currency disaster of a couple of years ago. |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
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Yeah, PCGS is owned by Collectors Universe. I knew that. What I thought was that the seller (the site) was technically using their own photos (from their sister org) and changing them. However, what I did not realize is that site is actually hosting third party sales.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
One interesting thing I noticed is that the PCGS logo watermark is missing from the altered image. I was wondering how that worked, so I did a little editing myself to see what happened. Here is what I did (original on top, edit on bottom):  The watermark is noticeably affected in color and nearly gone in the center, but it's still there. Maybe if I had jacked up the saturation it would have disappeared. In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8938 Posts |
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PCGS logo watermark is missing from the altered image. I was wondering how that worked If you were the original summitted for the coin imaged you have the ability to download an unwatermarked version of the images that the general public does not. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8938 Posts |
I decided to show how this works. First you get an email something like this with provided download links  Then once on the download page you can choose if you want the normal image, image on white background, or image on transparent background. I usually pick the transparent one.  Little fact PCGS neglects to tell you, if you go to http://images.PCGS.com//trueview/(your cert here) and there are trueviews available, you can download them as if you were the submitter. Once downloaded I just spend 2 seconds and layer the transparent image on top of a new background and done. Personally I think the coins pop much better this way. Being able to choose a color other then white is really nice.  Edited by GrapeCollects
10/09/2020 03:22 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
And this is why I only buy coins I see myself for real.
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Replies: 14 / Views: 2,415 |
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Posted 10/06/2020 9:49 pm
