Options
Important PCGS Notice about PVC flips
Halfsense
Posts: 600 ✭✭✭
An Important Notice to the Numismatic Community has been posted on the PCGS home page (www.pcgs.com) about PVC flips. Below is a news release issued today in connection with the Important Notice from PCGS.
-donn-
-----------------------------------
For immediate release
September 2, 2004
PCGS Solves Costly Riddle of the Mysterious Scratches
(Newport Beach, CA) – A decades’ old mystery involving grade-reducing, distinctive scratches that inexplicably appeared on a relatively small number of coins submitted to grading services finally has been solved by Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). A “smoking gun” in the grading room followed by microscopic analysis by a high-tech research laboratory solved the potentially costly riddle.
“We are issuing an important notice to the entire numismatic community: Either never use poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) coin ‘flips’ even for short-term storage, or be extremely cautious about the way you insert and remove coins from PVC holders,” warned Michael Sherman, PCGS Vice President.
PVC holders may contain microscopic particles, ranging in size as small as 5 to 15 microns, according to research conducted on behalf of PCGS by Berkeley Engineering and Research, Inc (BEAR) of Berkeley, California. Even Mylar® flips are not completely free of particulate matter, but have fewer particles than PVC holders.
“The direct cause of the damage is the presence of small particulate matter imbedded in the surfaces of the flip. We believe that the light, vertical scratch occasionally seen running down the obverse of large, heavy coins is due to sliding the coin over the surface of a flip containing poly-vinyl chloride. Coins are often slid over a flip’s surface in the process of inserting it or removing it from the flip.”
Sherman said the scratch mark usually is found on Morgan and Peace dollars and on Liberty $20 gold pieces. All three types are heavy coins with a prominent obverse design of Liberty, and even light scratch marks would be easily seen.
“The rate of damage seems to be small, perhaps one coin in 100,000, but you certainly don’t want to damage any coin. As part of the PCGS guaranty, we’ve paid for claims on coins that were damaged after we received them,” said Sherman.
Sometimes the damage was unknowingly caused by a collector or dealer inserting a coin into a flip immediately prior to submitting it to a grading service. Other times, it could occur after an undamaged coin is received by a grading service and is taken out and placed back in a PVC flip during the certification process.
Sherman said PCGS recently was able to pinpoint the suspected culprit when something strange happened inside the grading room.
“Our smoking gun evidence was a 1922-D Peace dollar that apparently dramatically changed condition in between the time two veteran graders examined it only minutes apart,” he explained.
One grader labeled it, MS-64, but the next person looking at the coin asked how it could be higher than MS-61 because of the scratch on Liberty’s cheek. The first grader said, “What scratch?”
“That’s when we suspected the cause was the flip itself and the way people usually insert and remove large coins by sliding them over the surface of the PVC flip,” explained Sherman.
BEAR laboratory examined a PVC holder and 16 scratched coins with a scanning electron microscope and other high-tech diagnostic tools. Particles of iron and zinc as well as silicon, sulfur, chlorine, potassium and calcium were discovered in the flip.
BEAR metallurgist Lisa K. Thomas concluded: “My examination and analysis showed that the PVC flip had particles on its inner surface that were similar in size, shape and elemental make-up as particles found embedded in the ends of the con scratches. It is likely that these particles from the flip surface caused the scratches and in the coin surface.”
Sherman advises collectors and dealers: “The best solution at this point is to use Mylar flips, and ensure that large coins are ‘dropped’ into the flip rather than slid over the surface.”
PCGS (www.pcgs.com) is a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLCT) of Newport Beach, California.
###
-donn-
-----------------------------------
For immediate release
September 2, 2004
PCGS Solves Costly Riddle of the Mysterious Scratches
(Newport Beach, CA) – A decades’ old mystery involving grade-reducing, distinctive scratches that inexplicably appeared on a relatively small number of coins submitted to grading services finally has been solved by Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). A “smoking gun” in the grading room followed by microscopic analysis by a high-tech research laboratory solved the potentially costly riddle.
“We are issuing an important notice to the entire numismatic community: Either never use poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) coin ‘flips’ even for short-term storage, or be extremely cautious about the way you insert and remove coins from PVC holders,” warned Michael Sherman, PCGS Vice President.
PVC holders may contain microscopic particles, ranging in size as small as 5 to 15 microns, according to research conducted on behalf of PCGS by Berkeley Engineering and Research, Inc (BEAR) of Berkeley, California. Even Mylar® flips are not completely free of particulate matter, but have fewer particles than PVC holders.
“The direct cause of the damage is the presence of small particulate matter imbedded in the surfaces of the flip. We believe that the light, vertical scratch occasionally seen running down the obverse of large, heavy coins is due to sliding the coin over the surface of a flip containing poly-vinyl chloride. Coins are often slid over a flip’s surface in the process of inserting it or removing it from the flip.”
Sherman said the scratch mark usually is found on Morgan and Peace dollars and on Liberty $20 gold pieces. All three types are heavy coins with a prominent obverse design of Liberty, and even light scratch marks would be easily seen.
“The rate of damage seems to be small, perhaps one coin in 100,000, but you certainly don’t want to damage any coin. As part of the PCGS guaranty, we’ve paid for claims on coins that were damaged after we received them,” said Sherman.
Sometimes the damage was unknowingly caused by a collector or dealer inserting a coin into a flip immediately prior to submitting it to a grading service. Other times, it could occur after an undamaged coin is received by a grading service and is taken out and placed back in a PVC flip during the certification process.
Sherman said PCGS recently was able to pinpoint the suspected culprit when something strange happened inside the grading room.
“Our smoking gun evidence was a 1922-D Peace dollar that apparently dramatically changed condition in between the time two veteran graders examined it only minutes apart,” he explained.
One grader labeled it, MS-64, but the next person looking at the coin asked how it could be higher than MS-61 because of the scratch on Liberty’s cheek. The first grader said, “What scratch?”
“That’s when we suspected the cause was the flip itself and the way people usually insert and remove large coins by sliding them over the surface of the PVC flip,” explained Sherman.
BEAR laboratory examined a PVC holder and 16 scratched coins with a scanning electron microscope and other high-tech diagnostic tools. Particles of iron and zinc as well as silicon, sulfur, chlorine, potassium and calcium were discovered in the flip.
BEAR metallurgist Lisa K. Thomas concluded: “My examination and analysis showed that the PVC flip had particles on its inner surface that were similar in size, shape and elemental make-up as particles found embedded in the ends of the con scratches. It is likely that these particles from the flip surface caused the scratches and in the coin surface.”
Sherman advises collectors and dealers: “The best solution at this point is to use Mylar flips, and ensure that large coins are ‘dropped’ into the flip rather than slid over the surface.”
PCGS (www.pcgs.com) is a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLCT) of Newport Beach, California.
###
"If it happens in numismatics, it's news to me....
6
Comments
Needs to be on top again........
Very timely. Bullwinkle.... activate the WAY BACK MACHINE!
Thanks for the excellent information @Halfsense.
Very informative. A good case could now be made for the grading services to treat scratches on coins the same way bag marks are viewed as not being detrimental to the technical grade.
Well, not to be critical, but if you're going to invoke Bullwinkle (actually Mr. Peabody and Sherman), then it's the WABAC Machine.
Yeah, I know. Spent way to much time in my youth with cartoons. It might be even sadder that I have the complete DVD set...
Worse if it was on VHS.
Or Betamax
Very good information....and certainly unexpected. One would think putting a coin in a flip would be the safest thing to do....I do not use the PVC flips, but will check mine anyway....Cheers, RickO
good to know info, much appreciated