When did PCGS start slabbing hammered coins?

ajaan

I thought they didn't holder coins this old.

link to eBay auction.

FilthyBroke

First I've seen it, too. I thought their cutoff date was around 1600.

wybrit

Same here. I was expecting more of the case of hammering a slabbed coin before the former.

ajaan

I just got off the phone with PCGS. The person I talked to said they will grade coins back to 1600. I specifically asked if they would grade an English Henry III coin. He said no. I guess it's not what you know, but who you know.

Hussulo

That's news to me as well.

FilthyBroke

Is it just me, or would anyone else think there should be more info on the label.....maybe put 'Henry II Tealby Penny' on the label somewhere just for quick reference?

newsman

That's not even close to the first hammered coin he's sold from PCGS. I bought one a couple of months ago from Italy that was a couple of centuries older than 1600. Maybe I should send a scan to the customer service folks.

Bobcatz

if they claim that they don't grade these, it is probably because they don't have the expertise. Thus, why anyone would send coins to them from this era is beyond me. The last thing i want to do, is to pay someone to grade coins that they don't know what they're looking at.

ajaan

Newsman, that's funny because I did just that. I sent customer service a link to the ebay auction and the reply I got back was this:



<< <i>It was probably a special circumstance. We usually only grade back to 1600. >>



So, they'll grade hammered coins for some people, but not others? I just don't understand this.

newsman

Expertise, or lack of it, is certainly something I would consider before sending a hammered coin to a grading service. But I certainly wouldn't want to be told that a company does not grade coins dating before 1600 and then see those same coins on the market in that company's holder.

Bobcatz

<< <i>Expertise, or lack of it, is certainly something I would consider before sending a hammered coin to a grading service. But I certainly wouldn't want to be told that a company does not grade coins dating before 1600 and then see those same coins on the market in that company's holder. >>



indeed.

newsman

<< <i>Newsman, that's funny because I did just that. I sent customer service a link to the ebay auction and the reply I got back was this:



<< <i>It was probably a special circumstance. We usually only grade back to 1600. >>



So, they'll grade hammered coins for some people, but not others? I just don't understand this. >>



I don't know about that, but if you look at the pop report for Hungarian "Madonna and Child" denars you will see they have graded 38 -- all but two from the 1500s. And there are other examples as well, such as Genoan hammered denars, where PCGS has graded two. I've also seen multiple examples of Italian states hammered gold in PCGS holders.

Aethelred

I have a c. 1500 Henry VII Groat in a PCGS slab. I would send a lot of the stuff that currently goes to NGC to PCGS if they could just give a straight answer to what the will and will not slab, but no two people seem able to tell you the same thing.

coinkat

I think they (PCGS) did grade some hammered coins earlier- perhaps 4-6 years ago or even longer.

ajaan

From the PCGS population report, I counted 197 pre-1600 coins that have been graded. Yes, I have no life.

docday2003

if you check out my pcgs world coin set, you will see coins going back as far as 840 AD link