Tampering With TPG Slabs

Sorry, are you buying or selling this coin? If selling, why would you worry about that after you've sold the coin? Seems like an odd question.

Because some one could replace a high end coin with a lower grade coin and then demand a refund
John1

Surely there must be more important things to worry about!

Sometimes you can get very lucky and the slab will split open cleanly and you can reseal it, but this happens very seldom. It really isn't something you really need to worry about.

I understand your concern. I've been dealing with a lot of craigslist people over the past couple weeks and it seems like half the people out there are working some kind of scam.

Recently there was a large settlement involving NGC and a "dealer" who was cracking their slabs and replacing the coins, so you're right to think that someone could be playing a refund game using the same tactic. It's essentially the same scam in reverse. With ebay strongly favoring buyers in a refund situation, I can see where a crack and return scam would be easier and more profitable. Photograph the coins with the certs and identifying marks clearly visible.

https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/11938/

Is it possible to open up a slab, swap out the coin for another, and reseal it? Yes.

Is it possible to open up a slab, swap out the coin for another, and reseal it without this damage being obviously evident to anyone who looks at the slab? That is the much harder thing to do.

You probably have to worry more about counterfeit coins in counterfeit slabs, than you have to worry about genuine slabs being cracked open and having fake or inferior coins substituted. Simply because making a fake slab is much easier than trying to stealthily tamper with a genuine slab.

The TrueView system (PCGS) and Internet Imaging (NGC) are good here, in that there's a photo of the genuine coin in the genuine slab on file with the TPG which you cna access and compare your slab with. While faking or swapping out a slabbed coin is possible, doing so and keeping the fake/substitute coin looking anything like the original coin in the holder is much, much harder.

From the NGC article (emphasis mine)

The inferior coins, which were poorly resealed in NGC holders that misrepresented their authenticity and grade, were sold with the intention of profiting off of the less-valuable coins.

Basically if you LOOKED at the slabs you could tell they had been opened and resealed. So once again, this isn't really something you have to worry that much about.

The case is PROVENANCE NGC LLC d/b/a NUMISMATIC GUARANTY COMPANY, v. RICHARD ALBRIGHT, NY Southern District 23-CV-00406