| Author |
 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,627 |
|
|
Press Manager
 United States
1420 Posts |
 The following is a press release from PCGS- July 7, 2011 Effective August 1, 2011 PCGS will be introducing several important changes in our continued efforts to combat counterfeiting. PCGS Secure Plus™ will be expanded to include Economy level submissions. The price for Economy Secure Plus will be $25 (vs. Standard Economy at $18). Plus grading will be offered for all Economy submissions, including both Standard as well as Secure Plus. There is no extra charge for this. No-grade "Genuine" coins will now be allowed in Secure Plus holders. Requests to reholder no-grade coins submitted through Secure Plus prior to August 1, 2011 will need to be re-submitted for grading in order to be encapsulated. All Chinese coins must be submitted through the Secure Plus service at the Economy service level or higher (no Modern). As part of Secure Plus, each coin is scanned, photographed, sniffed and subjected to a metal composition analysis. The metal testing is very helpful in detecting counterfeits. The availability of a photograph is also very effective in deterring counterfeiting. All valid certification numbers can be checked on our website. If there is a photograph (which is always the case for Secure Plus coins) the photograph will be displayed next to the coin information. If you are planning on submitting Chinese coins through the Bulk Department, please contact Customer Service for additional information. For Chinese Crossovers, please contact Customer Service for submission instructions As a reminder, a submission form must be entirely Standard or Secure Plus. The two services cannot be mixed on a single submission. Each of these changes will be effective for all submissions received beginning August 1, 2011. If you have any questions or comments please contact PCGS Customer Service at 800-447-8847 or email info@pcgs.com.
|
|
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Translation:
"Not enough people are spending the extra money for Secure Plus to make it worthwhile, so we are lowering the price and increasing the tier range to try and get more of you to use it and pay us more money."
The bit about the Chinese coins is interesting considering most of the Chinese counterfeits are not of Chinese coins. On the other hand I guess a lot of the expensive Chinese coins seen ARE fakes.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
Is PCGS (and NGC) still going to have an "annual member fee"? That is what has turned me off from submitting my coins through them and went ANACS. Purchasing a PCGS/NGC slab is a different story.
Edited by oih82w8
07/13/2011 1:05 pm
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Quote:
...each coin is scanned, photographed, sniffed and subjected to a metal composition analysis. "Sniffed"?  Do they employ a detection dog to sniff out silver from CuNi coins?  Every coin submitted to main TPGs should be photographed--it would solve a lot of issues, imo. Edited by DVCollector
07/13/2011 2:34 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
570 Posts |
Usually the higher up you go in a TPG membership, the more coins you can submit for "free". What I did was wait until I had 8 coins that I wanted to submit to PCGS and got their Platinum membership. It cost $199, but I got to submit 8 coins. You do have to pay for shipping and insurance which is not included submissions, even the "free" ones. It was a good deal for me since I had enough coins that I wanted graded. A friend on my only has 2 he wants to submit and does not want to spend the money to get a membership. I don't see TPG's like NGC and PCGS dropping their memberships anytime soon. I bet a lot of revenue is generated from memberships. |
|
Moderator
United States
16679 Posts |
I have to admit, yeah, an extra $7 but, it's worth it. I have a 1909-S VDB currently in a PCGS GENUINE holder. I will probably resubmit for this service. I'd rather have a "fingerprint" of this coin to refer to. Like DV, I wish all TPG's would photograph each coin as part of their normal service. swcoin.ecrater.com
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1547 Posts |
Quote:
Translation:
"Not enough people are spending the extra money for Secure Plus to make it worthwhile, so we are lowering the price and increasing the tier range to try and get more of you to use it and pay us more money." I don't even think PCGS themselves know where in the heck they're going with Secure Plus™. But it's another bell or whistle on the plastic that will undoubtedly raise the price of the plastic so it's not incumbent upon the plastic collectors that they know that, either. It's a win-win for both those who demand PCGS plastic and those who promote and supply it, and that's why it works. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
Quote:
Do they employ a detection dog to sniff out silver from CuNi coins? I think sniffing might be a metal detector term, somehow narrows the selection. Not sure what that might mean to coin authentication, but possibly some metal-specific technology... |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
860 Posts |
"Sniffing" as usually used in detection is the testing for organic molecules. Similar to the Freon gas detectors used by A/C repairmen, Sniffed patches used on your airport baggage, Bomb detection ( although dogs are more accurate, etc.) Could detect oils, waxes, etc, but most volatiles such as Acetone, would not be readily detected if not very recent. Acetone in people's breath, especially diabetics would mess up that "sniff".
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
I hope noone gets a cold at PCGS. They might bodybag your coin due to smell LOL
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
"Sniffed"? Do they employ a detection dog to sniff out silver from CuNi coins? It's a gas chromatograph. It draws a sample of an inert gas across the coin and then detects what other molecules are present. It creates a graph that shows detections by molecular weight. They run calibration samples as well and by matching up the sample graphs and the test graphs they can determine what substances are present. They use it to detect chemical alterations. Quote:
I'd rather have a "fingerprint" of this coin to refer to. You wouldn't have the "fingerprint", PCGS would. If the coin was submitted again under the Secure Plus tier it would be scanned again and the resulting "fingerprint" is compared against all the previously scanned "fingerprints" in their files looking for a match. If it finds one then they know they have seen that coin before and they can pull up the records of its previous visit. This can be useful against the crackout game, because it can be reassigned its old grade. Even better is that it can be used to identify stolen coins that have been cracked out, as long as they were run through Secure Plus previously. In my opinion this is the best reason for using Secure Plus and why I would like to eventually see the scanning extended to all submissions. I don't care about the grading, but I see the scanning as having the potential to assist in the recovery of a lot of stolen coins in the future. |
| |
Replies: 10 / Views: 2,627 |
|
Posted 07/12/2011 11:49 am
