Curator & Collector

Images of Canadian 1870 50 cent pieces, with and without the engraver and designer’s initials, taken from Heritage World Coin Auction Catalog #312, Sid and Alicia Belzberg Collection, via Google Books. The two particular coins shown above are not the subject of this post, although their types are.

Terry Campbell, in the current edition of Canadian Coin News makes a rather interesting claim (vol. 46, No. 20, Jan. 20 to Feb. 2nd 2009) in his Q & A column. On the third page of the column, he quotes a question from a reader about a PCGS-certified 1870 “no LCW” fifty cent piece.

The question was about how to ship the coin, which Campbell had indicated had been altered to resemble a rare variety, to PCGS for further inspection. Before answering that question, Campbell gives a bit of background on his first-hand knowledge of this coin, gathered shortly after it was purchased:

I [had] looked at this coin of [name redacted by blog author]. For some unknown reason I studied this coin quite intently. I discovered that the W of the L.C.W. (Leonard Charles Wyon, Royal Mint Chief Engraver) was still visible on Queen Victoria’s truncation. After looking there, I naturally lifted my glass to examine the area behind the front jewel of Queen Victoria’s crown. Here I discovered heavy scratches indicative of tool marks. This is how to make a $550 coin into a $7,700 coin.

While many collectors and dealers are both passionate and honest in their collecting, it remains true that there is still a fair amount of skulduggery in the numismatics and rare collectibles field. The primary function of a grading, or coin certification service, is to authenticate the coins sent them, and, secondarily, of course, to assign a grade. This primary function is especially important when it comes to ostensibly rare material.

PCGS is widely regarded as the premier coin certification service in the United States, and if they can be fooled so easily,* this bodes ill for the hobby in general, as well as for this particular coin collector who purchased the coin.

This situation also underscores–for me, at least–the importance of having Canadian coins graded by Canadian certification companies; certainly, one wonders if PCGS’s expertise in grading American material extends at the same level to Canadian material also. It would seem doubtful, in any case, that their expertise could match that of the Canadian companies which grade more or less exclusively Canadian material.

In fact, Campbell–without making any comments about PCGS–had previously recommended that the coin’s owner send it to ICCS for inspection. The Canadian-owned and operated International Coin Certification Service is, in the Canadian context, regarded as the most authoritative grading company for Canadian coins. Unfortunately, their “slabs” are soft plastic; fortunately, their smaller rival, Canadian Coin Certification Service (CCCS) has just produced a hard slab. Perhaps the presence of a Canadian hard slab will slowly change the market’s practices in terms of which companies grade Canadian coins.
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*Of course, Campbell’s discovery has yet to be verified by a grading company on either side of the 49th parallel, so it may turn out that PCGS was correct after all.