ATTENTION PCGS - You don't get to decide which die marriages are valid.
Barberian
Posts: 4,643 ✭✭✭✭✭
The experts who described dies and die marriages do. Your job is to simply identify the die marriages that the experts have described already.
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The 1874-S WB-5 is a combination where both dies were previously described and labeled as "Obverse1" and "Reverse B." There is absolutely no question regarding its legitimacy. And you do NOT get to be creative and call it something other than "WB-5."
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If you don't understand this or lack the staff to be able to identify this DM, then stop doing attributions!! Otherwise, you are just hurting the hobby at collectors' expense.
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WB-5 - a combo of Obverse 1 (like WB-1) and Reverse B (also shared by WB-2). Note the height of the right arrow relative to the top of the digits. WB-5 has the right arrow below the top of the digits; WB-2 has the right arrow subequal to slightly above the top of the digits.
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Bill Bugert's description of WB-5 published in 2015.
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This is WB-2 - Note that the arrows on Obverse 2 are higher relative to the date such that the right arrow is subequal or slightly higher than the top of digit "4." It also lacks a lump on the dress near Liberty's groin (insert joke here) that is present in WB-5 (Obverse 1).
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You do not get to change a coins DM identity either. This is NOT WB-2! WB-2 was not made using Obverse 1 dies.
Comments
You (and everyone else) should tread really lightly here, especially with how many people are in bars right now and how many warnings the mods have given out.
I get that missed attributions are frustrating. Yelling to a wall on a public forum isn't going to solve your issue. If you lay out what happened and where PCGS went wrong, you might get some help here.
Coin Photography
It’s a game, that involves losing a cheap life every so often. Keep playing, it’s just a hobby
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
I just edited my post and did exactly that. I described the dies involved in the die pairing, including a solid diagnostic feature for separating WB-5 from WB-2. I'm trying to be constructive here because this nonsense cannot continue.
I did insect taxonomy as part of my job doing bioassessment. This is no different than what I did back then except coins don't have different sexes and life stages. If I did what PCGS just did with an attribution, I would be fired. PCGS deciding what is a legit DM and then changing the name of a DM HAS TO STOP!
I don't have a "cheap life" to lose.
There is the proper way to do coin taxonomy. Companies that do attributions don't have the option of changing the rules and deciding for themselves what to call a previously named, described, and published die marriage. They need to keep up to date with the taxonomy or stop doing attributions. Otherwise, they are doing their customers a costly disservice to them.
Subscribing to this thread...
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They do in fact get that option. They can all a coin whatever they want. However, TPGs that fail at doing it right lose customers. TPGs that do it right get customers.
If you don't like the service one TPG provides, there's other options. If a TPG does not meet your personal standards, feel free to do your business elsewhere. Getting angry on a chat board is not going to change anything.
Coin Photography
PCGS has already lost some of my coin grading. They don't have the option if they wish to be competent and serve their clientele responsibly. As it stands now, I'll have to take my rare die marriages to some other attribution service like Varslab.
Getting angry on this chat board has changed several things in the past. You apparently haven't tried to do so or didn't apply the right "vinegar."