PCGS Making A Big Announcement At The Fort Worth ANA Show

Counterfeit coins (and slabs) being the great risk that it is...2 ideas.

The not-so-new-idea: FREE photograph of every graded coin, with online serial number verification that shows the photo.

Have any of you seen those holograms where you hold a colored lens over it and something else appears? They are used on golf clubs now, because they are counterfeited. The grading company could make it so a second serial number appears in the hologram. On the verification website, you'd have to enter both serial numbers to find out what coin (with photo) goes with it. If you enter 2 numbers that don't match, the website would not give up any information.

These 2 stops wouldn't stop the creation of counterfeit slabs completely, but it would take a lot more work for them to copy a specific coin and slab.

Another idea would be an RFID transmitter inside the slab, but I don't know how that would help the average Joe verify a slab.

Wow, you can't even access the PCGS site right now. Go to the PCGS site at 10:00 to hear the announcement.

The way they hyped it up I thought it would be something more interesting / ground-braking.



I dont see how this applies - I cant see anything in the announcement that would lead to it? The same issues still apply.



Dont know the full details of how they will laser-scan the coins but they say they can tell if a coin has been graded in the past then altered and sent for a regrade.

What I dont understand is if a coin has been 'altered' in some way, eg toning how can the computer tell its the same coin? If it has a large distinguishing feature on it like a scratch then maybe. Maybe someone can explain more about how it works but I cant see how this is fool-proof.



Just like point No 1 I dont see how this applies - I cant see anything in the announcement that would lead to it? The same issues still apply.



This is the one I find the most mis-leading. They claim to be able to 'recover' lost or stolen coins. Do they intend to confiscate coins that their system flags up as having seen before? What if their system gets it wrong? Can they legally hold a coin - I doubt it? Even if the coin was stolen it could never be compared to the original (itself) and I cant see their opinion being used by police/courts to settle any claim.



This is true with the '+' designation but considering they publish the value of the grades of course it is going to be true. One problem with this is that the value (in real terms) of all the coins that dont get the '+' grade will have to go down. This includes coins graded prior the '+' being introduced. They claim that this is not the case but you cant inflate the value and desirability of the '+' coins without reducing the non '+' ones - its simple economics!


They did mention two other things. An improved security slab and a 'harder to counterfeit' label. Both good ideas but hardly anything new, if people are prepared to fake a coin then faking new holders and labels are straightforward in comparison. I would bet the new holders are made in China anyway so being where most counterfeit coins are made I cant see that doing anything - the fakers will just pick them up on the black market.

One thing I couldn't find was if the price for the new service is higher? I'm guessing it is but not sure so cant comment.

Maybe if they had called it the 'little one' it wouldn't have been such a let down!


In one of the videos I watched they were blatantly plugging re-grades as a way of upping the value of your coins. They said that one guy had 20 coins re-graded and 6 became '+' coins so he was 'very pleased' as their values jumped significantly. Of course they also got paid for 20 re-grades in the process!

This in a market that has gone up hugely in the last few years seems dangerous to me. You cant just inflate prices like that without the risk of bursting the bubble completely!