Dirty trick?

WACoinGuy

I went to a coin store yesterday (not my usual dealer), and while I was looking through the display case, I noticed that he had a slabbed Franklin half. What was odd was that it looked like he had covered up the grading company label with his own label outside of the slab that listed the year, grade, and price. I'm not sure who the grading company was, but it didn't look like it was PCGS, NGC, or ANACS.

Now I'm wishing I had paid it more attention (I didn't at the time because I wasn't particularly looking for Franklin halves) -- was the dealer trying to deceive buyers or hide the fact that this was a less-reputable grading company's coin (and who would fall for that)? Or did he not agree with the grade the coin was given and was placing his own grading opinion over it -- in which case why not crack the slab and sell it raw?

smprfi

Why not just ask him.I'll bet he tells you.

kranky

There's a guy I've seen at shows who does the same thing. You can still recognize the slab, but he puts a big label over the grade and handwrites his own grades on it.

Bigern

I seen something along this line on EBAY, after the 2003 SAC's came out there was someone selling "Certified slabbed" 2003 SAC coins. What caught my attention was there was no picture, no description and no grade when I emailed the seller to inquire I never heard back from him.

Russ

There's a dealer in my area who generally doesn't sell slabbed coins, (except on consignment), but he has three PCGS graded MS Walkers prominently displayed in one of his cases. I asked him about them one day, and he said they weren't for sale. Why? Because he uses them to educate people that grading services can be very wrong sometimes. He's an old line conservative grader and believes the three coins are very overgraded.

Could be the same thing with this dealer. When asked, he may pull it out, let the customer evaluate it without knowing the grade and use it as an educational tool.

Russ, NCNE

WACoinGuy

I really wish I had asked him -- I'm in California for the weekend (just call me CACoinGuy), and won't have a chance to go back and see the dealer before I leave. The thing is I've bought coins from this dealer before and have been very happy with the coins I've gotten, so I am hoping to hear that this doesn't raise a red flag.