1891 Indian Cent - Questionable Color Y/N

That's a bold statement considering this is a relatively small issue! The grading companies have done plenty of good for the hobby.

Gotcha! I don't live in the TPGs can do no wrong world. Small issues actually matter to me.

At $50(+/-) a crack all TPGs should be dead on accurate, and more importantly, absolutely consistent. They should provide specific proof points for a call like this. If they did we might not be having this conversation.

So until they do, I'll confidently state my opinion once again, TPGs are just a drain on coin collecting.

with Zurie. It looks pretty darn original to my eyes.

How much more original do those young pencil heads
want it to be?
Send me ten like that , name your price .
The coin grading services are not all they
are cracked (out) up to be .
Back in the late 1980s early 1990s one of the
most recognizable sounds in the setup hours of
a coin show .. the unmistakable loud crack of plastic!

My current rating based on
Lots of recent submissions
1 ANACS
2 CACG
3NGC
Out to lunch PCGS

You must realize the TPGs are run by human beings and not robot AI takeovers. Secondly, grading is an art form based on centralized opinions that strive to be at least a little consistent across the board. But they are still opinions. There is no such thing as 100% accuracy in art.

If you would like them to provide specific points of what they think of each coin, you can total your submission to be at least $200+ a coin. The graders have 30 seconds to grade each coin, and to add the duty of a handwritten list, that adds significant time.

I am not a plastic collector by any means, most of my collection is raw, but you must understand the reality and facts of the scenario.




PCGS holds greater reputability in the marketplace, more than NGC and CACG. Their reputation will not be tarnished anytime soon.

Think about the big boys. There are multimillion dollar coins in holders. This thread is like buying one silver ounce and expecting the spot price to change. The world is much larger than a single Indian Head cent, and the wholesale and retail markets of the coin industry are very developed and massive in size.


OP - The coin appears to possibly have natural color, but if PCGS called it QC from the get-go I would not put any more money into the coin. They look for specific qualities to QC and are very strict on the color of Indian Head cents. At the most I would send to NGC, they are a little more lenient on the color of cents.

I called it that PCGS was going downhill, when they let David Hall go entirely. It would not bode well for them. I've been seeing some very questionable details coins and grades in general over the past couple of years. It will take some time before the perception of a more valuable price because it's in a PCGS holder.

Buy the coin forget the holder these days. Howerver, one caveat is, their guarantee on authenticity is a good thing and a must on certain very heavily counterfeited coins.

EDIT: Well I guess it was a "bit" longer than a couple of years ago I made that prediction...

https://goccf.com/t/329125#2810488