Gold Chocolate Franklin in a PCGS Holder - how would you grade it??
Lakesammman
Posts: 17,443 ✭✭✭✭✭
Was offered this a couple weeks ago. Must have been done by an insider but not sure how it got by the finalizer. 
Ebay listing
Ebay listing
"My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose, Cardinal.
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Not mint, milk spotted...
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
I was too fixated on the not-genuine to see that angle......
edit:spelling
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Placing that slab on the cover of a sample slab book would be hilarious ... especially considering it's not a sample slab. While certainly interesting and likely unique (according to the seller), it's not a sample slab, it's a novelty slab.
Sample slabs, by their very nature, are "samples" of a grading company's slabs used as examples or prototypes of a proposed or actual finished product.
Just because an employee, "on a lark," slabs something, doesn't make it a sample slab.
As an aside ... I am surprised PCGS allowed this to leave the building.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Steve
<< <i>As an aside ... I am surprised PCGS allowed this to leave the building. >>
I have a feeling the maxim, "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission" came into play here.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
<< <i>I say crack it out and eat it. >>
Looks like a real good overdate on this, otherwise not a lot of hits, better yet, it Melts in your Mouth and in the Mail.
in a PCGS holder, and my PCGS holder with a
(actual) Cricket encapsulated in it, we'd have a :
PCGS Chocolate-covered Cricket
(I've eaten chocolate-covered grasshoppers & ants
before - along time ago)
Steve
<< <i>Ironically ... the seller writes, "The Numismatist plans to publish my feature article on sample slabs in May 2015, so you can believe me when I say I know samples. If I write a book on samples, this one is going on the cover."
Placing that slab on the cover of a sample slab book would be hilarious ... especially considering it's not a sample slab. While certainly interesting and likely unique (according to the seller), it's not a sample slab, it's a novelty slab.
Sample slabs, by their very nature, are "samples" of a grading company's slabs used as examples or prototypes of a proposed or actual finished product.
Just because an employee, "on a lark," slabs something, doesn't make it a sample slab.
As an aside ... I am surprised PCGS allowed this to leave the building. >>
Maybe it's a clever and effective way for to get someone to pay for reject slabs instead of throwing them into the trash. Or are they maybe sent back to be recycled as regrind like the old phonograph records were?
Not, "See's Candy" so you also have a rare insert error to boot.
peacockcoins
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
You own that slab?? I heard it was a roach.
edit to change emoticon.....
<< <i>Gee, if we can resubmit the OP's Chocolate Coin
in a PCGS holder, and my PCGS holder with a
(actual) Cricket encapsulated in it, we'd have a :
PCGS Chocolate-covered Cricket
(I've eaten chocolate-covered grasshoppers & ants
before - along time ago) >>
I think I need to alert PETA.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
<< <i>I'm thinking it's a Chinese counterfeit slab that was used? >>
My first thought as well.
<< <i>"Late in 2005, a PCGS employee made this slab as a lark. With the permission of his employer, he encapsulated a See's Candy chocolate Franklin half dollar in a standard PCGS holder sized for a Silver Eagle. Because the computer could not print a label for such an unusual item, another worker hand wrote the label you see. The other staff were amazed to see that the chocolate coin survived the slabbing process and remained in good condition. It was the talk of the breakroom for the next three or so days afterwards. As a testament to the well-known quality of the PCGS holder, the coin has not changed in the slightest since the day it was made." >>
David (the seller) is also a sample slab collector and we've exchanged email several times on other aspects of slab history. He is quite knowledgeable and I've bought odd samples from him in the past. I'm looking forward to his article.
It is certainly true that items are slabbed without the knowledge of the company. But that's another thread if I get around to it.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
dang,
bob
that's sealed in my PCGS
holder.....gotta be close to
15 years now that I've had it.....
15 years now that I've had it.....
That thing is legendary - is it available??
If someone wants to remind me in July, I'd be glad
to bring it to the ANA in Chicago for fun !
If I were a PCGS manager I'd be ticked off to see this out in the market. And now for $999? Tall tale if you ask me.
And realistically, without an official PCGS insert, it's worth no more than a fake one anyways. Where's a certificate of authenticity from the grader/approving manager? How about just a letter?
The reverse is badly wiped so I'd grade it "genuine" chocolate.
Late in 2005, a PCGS employee made this slab as a lark. With the permission of his employer, he encapsulated a See's Candy chocolate Franklin half dollar in a standard PCGS holder sized for a Silver Eagle. Because the computer could not print a label for such an unusual item, another worker hand wrote the label you see. The other staff were amazed to see that the chocolate coin survived the slabbing process and remained in good condition. It was the talk of the break room for the next three or so days afterwards. As a testament to the well-known quality of the PCGS holder, the coin has not changed in the slightest since the day it was made.
Employees made this with the approval of the employer? And they didn't have the technology to assign it a computerized label, even an altered one? Not much ingenuity. Think of all the one-off error coins that get odd ball labels all the time...many of them undated. Not buying this story. I'd eat the coin though. Who says you can't eat gold?
]The Numismatist plans to publish my feature article on sample slabs in May 2015, so you can believe me when I say I know samples. If I write a book on samples, this one is going on the cover.
The next owner of this should take the seller up on that guarantee. If it doesn't make the cover, they should get a FULL refund. And as Astrorat mentioned above, this seller would be a FOOL to put a poc on the cover of their proposed sample slab book. If they ever had any credibility, it just went out the window.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
<< <i>Well if it is in fact real, I thing PCGS should acquire it and David Hall should eat it on some noteworthy PCGS anniversary.
Well ... unless the person who made it had permission to remove it, then it's likely still PCGS property. So, maybe David could "acquire" it for much less than the asking price.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
<< <i>Ironically ... the seller writes, "The Numismatist plans to publish my feature article on sample slabs in May 2015, so you can believe me when I say I know samples. If I write a book on samples, this one is going on the cover."
Placing that slab on the cover of a sample slab book would be hilarious ... especially considering it's not a sample slab. While certainly interesting and likely unique (according to the seller), it's not a sample slab, it's a novelty slab.
Sample slabs, by their very nature, are "samples" of a grading company's slabs used as examples or prototypes of a proposed or actual finished product.
Just because an employee, "on a lark," slabs something, doesn't make it a sample slab.
As an aside ... I am surprised PCGS allowed this to leave the building. >>
This is high on the list of the dumbest things I've seen in my 35+ years in the hobby. I guess you can either laugh it off or let it tick you off ... at the "sample slab expert" seller's price I'm more on the ticked off/disgusted side.
ANA LM
USAF Retired — 34 years of active military service! 🇺🇸
It was a legit slab and was pretty cool. While holding it, I kept thinking I had seen a chocolate coin in a slab before, but I wasn't sure where. Did some searching this morning and found this posted by Cameron Kiefer in 2006:
<< <i>
<< <i>I heard that in Arkansas there is a chocolate coin in a PCGS slab. >>
From my slab files:
Before people start arguing that this picture is photoshopped let me tell you that IT IS NOT. The sugar in the choloate has actually leaked out of the foil and crystalized in the slab. I have held this coin in my hands and took the picture.
Cameron Kiefer >>
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
Rob
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