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Question for collectors about mechanical errors
MWallace
Posts: 3,857 ✭✭✭✭✭
Does it bother you to have a coin in your collection with a mechanical error on the slab? If it does, would you just pass on the coin? The coin I'm looking at is a super nice coin with a premium attached. This is not the coin I'm looking at, but for example: A slab labeled as a 1950 Jefferson Nickel instead of a 1950-D as it is.
Before anyone says to send it back for correction, I haven't checked with every single TPG, but at least some will not accept anything from someone who isn't a paid member.
Before someone says to have it sent in my someone who is a member, in many cases, it is just too cost prohibitive because of the postage/insurance both ways. Especially in the case of a relatively inexpensive coin.
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If it were already my coin, I would send it in for correction...If it was a coin I was considering, it would depend on how much I wanted the coin (i.e. rarity, condition etc.)... If it were one I wanted, I would buy it as is... and have it fixed...If just a coin of mild interest, I would pass. Cheers, RickO
I have a 1911-D Indian gold $10 in a top tier slab with a label that says 1911-S The mintmarks on these are really small and the dealer didn't even notice this mistake on the label. Rather than go through the trouble and expense of sending it back for a correction, I just took fine tipped sharpie and made a notation on the slab that it's a D mintmark.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
I have a few mechanicals (attributed incorrectly) that are in OGH's so I won't have them reholdered.
Lance.
As for me ... I'd probably leave it as is.
But then I might change my mind
Is it considered a mechanical error when the grading service shows the wrong grade on the label?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
I'm curious, does it bother you?
Only if they are more than 2 points off.
From the PCGS guarantee page section referencing mechanical errors:
"A blatantly obvious clerical input mistake with respect to the actual grade of the coin. For example, if you had an 1893-O Morgan dollar and the PCGS holder showed the coin as MS65 (a Gem quality coin), but the coin was so beat up and marked up that it would grade MS60 at best, this coin would not be covered by the PCGS Guarantee as this would be an obvious input error. The rule of thumb here would be a difference of more than two points on the grading scale."
Collector, occasional seller
I do not like mechanical errors on mechanical errors so I get them fixed
I have one or two. Never thought about getting them fixed. I fact I bought one because of the error. It was cheap. Thought of it as a novelty.
I have one or two also. I put them aside and wont send them back either
Not at all. Well, of course I'd have preferred PCGS to have gotten them right originally. Silly slip-ups. But none is needed for my registries. And everyone loves coins in OGH's for their stability, among other reasons. So I'll leave them alone.
Mistakes I've found in newer holders -- a dozen or more -- have been fixed by PCGS at no cost to me. Some I've been tempted to leave alone, just for amusement's sake. Like the below.
Lance.
So did CAC agree with the grade and the date?
Edit - it would bother me more if it wasn’t easy to know the difference. A wrong attribution would bug me more than a wrong mint Mark or date.
They've never bothered me all that much, but I've usually gotten them fixed (for free) anyway. I've never had an OGH with a mechanical error, but those I would leave alone.
I thought it was undergraded. It is now MS62 and I haven't tried CAC with it.
Good point. The attribution errors I spoke of are minor things like calling a bust half large 0 "small" (twice!). Calling a 1794 cent "head of 1795" (it's a 1794 head). Nothing that changes value much.
Lance.