Questionable Questionable Designations (NGC Altered Color)

Numismaphile

Soooo... I have a bone to pick with the current grading regime. A few times in the past few years I have submitted coins with interesting or attractive toning, only to get them knocked back in a body bag or with a vote of no-confidence like this one. Now, I am all for cleaning house and not giving undue credit to people's chemistry projects. But this was from and old-time collection that nobody screwed with. It's one of the most drop-dead gorgeous coins, even in the holder I've had some good offers. I offer it up as a case study. The reply from NGC was that it was inspected by three graders and a chief grader and I can resubmit it if I'm not happy with the outcome. What can we do about this in the profession, aside from buying the coin and not the holder? I'm putting this in my show case without a price tag to help educate the public about the limitations of third-party grading.

WAYNEAS

Can we see a picture of the reverse?
Wayne

JWP

That really is a questionable grade IMHO. Sorry you're going through this, nice looking IHC.

Insider3

The problem you ran into is "market acceptability." Not all naturally toned, copper is acceptable. It can be very frustrating in cases where the submitter knows where their coin has been for the last forty or so years.

Namvet69

Given the obv damage, I'm thinking AT was applied to conceal the original surface state. IMHO

sellitstore

Copper can be tricky but that one looks 95% good to me. Does 5% doubt make it questionable? What if my doubt is only 1%?

I like the coin. It looks high grade but would like to see better photos. As a buyer, I wouldn't discount it but don't think that I would pay much of a premium for the color, either. It's worth attractive Red and Brown money to me.

Numismaphile

I'll try to post a photo of the reverse when I dig it out. Bottom line: I've had it with grading services and the price guides. I just avoid them as much as possible. I do what I can to understand coins, and to sell to knowledgeable buyers. I buy large estates and enjoy breaking them up and keeping things for myself. I'm building a few nice sets of raw coins, it's a good challenge in this day and age. I'll buckle to pay for a few slabs that I want to sell to the public online. It's arbitrary what is "altered" v. natural toning. Is it natural if it was in a book with acidic paper or soft plastic for twenty years? I have a beautiful Ike that had a loose case from a basement. Is that natural? What if you put it on a window sill for 6 months? I price coins based on what I think they are worth, and sometimes go over sheet for ones with good eye appeal, and it bugs the bottom feeders at shows, but I don't know what else to do except fall back on my own judgement. (I have jacked most of my 19th century coins up 1.5 to 2.0 x sheet, and when people tell me I'm wrong, I say "the sheet is wrong." Those coins were selling out in the first half hour of shows until I made that little adjustment.) THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR THOUGHTFUL REPLIES, I did read them word for word and take them to heart.