PCGS Revises "First Day of Issue" Guidelines for Presidential Dollars
Friday May 18, 2007
In the fine tradition of the misleading First Strikes designation, the PCGS coin grading service has revised its guidelines for earning the "First Day of Issue" coin slab insert. Previously, to qualify for the "First Day of Issue" claim on the label, the coin actually had to be submitted on the first day it was issued. However, under guidelines posted on the PCGS Web site on May 16, 2007, (and carefully confirmed by speaking with a PCGS Customer Service specialist named Christy,) a submitter can snag a "First Day of Issue" designation anytime in the future as long as he's willing to pay the fee for 1,000 coins at a time. All he has to do is send them to PCGS in one of those sealed boxes you can buy from your neighborhood bank.
You can still buy sealed Washington Dollar boxes from some banks, by the way, so if you missed out on getting a "First Day of Issue" for the Washington Dollar, no problem. Stop by your bank, pick up a box, and pay PCGS the 1,000 coin bulk submission fee. Since this is the only requirement for "First Day of Issue" now, why doesn't PCGS just call it what it really is, "Sealed Prior to Release" or somesuch? Why desecrate the sacred "First Day of Issue?" Because all of the novice collectors and non-expert investors out there wouldn't pay good money if they knew the truth! This sure sounds dishonest to me! The point here is that just like the "First Strikes" misnomer, we are going to have tens of thousands of coins entering our market with a misleading designation on them again, courtesy of PCGS.
If it seems to my regular readers like I dislike this company a bit, well, you're right on the money! PCGS engages in a lot of activities that are detrimental to our hobby, in my opinion, such as aiding and abetting graded coin value fraud. PCGS knowingly allows perfidious eBay sellers to reference their slabbed coin price guide for coins that are in spurious, meaningless slabs. PCGS does not make any attempt to deter these fraudsters, as far as I've ever been able to determine, and for some reason PCGS won't even take the simple expedient of posting a warning on each page of the PCGS price guide, in bold letters where people would notice it, stating that the prices in the guide are for coins in PCGS slabs only, and do not apply to coins in any other slab. Just this simple warning would be enough to save a lot of folks from being ripped off. And it's not for lack of PCGS knowing about the problem, either. I have discussed this matter personally with PCGS executives and staff over the past few months. It is sickening to see the novice and uninformed buyers on eBay paying PCGS prices for overgraded coins in dealer-created holders, especially when something simple can be done to help prevent it.
And now we have a new avenue for scammers of perhaps a little higher order, those who effectively bribe PCGS into feeding a deep market of TV-buying clueless collectors, while defiling one of the most sacred designations, the "First Day of Issue." Thanks to this new PCGS policy, not only do "First Day of Issue" sellers no longer have to tie up their money actually getting the coins certified on the real First Day of Issue, these dealers can send the coins in as needed, over the next few years or so if the market warrants. And if the market doesn't warrant, they can always just spend or wholesale out all those boxes of sealed coins. PCGS has removed the risk for a few major dealers, at the expense of the average collector/consumer who isn't really getting a "First Day of Issue" coin at all under these terms.
So, based on the mounting evidence, just who is PCGS really serving? Itself? The major dealers who pay big bucks for their bulk submissions? Or is PCGS really acting in the best interests of our hobby as whole? I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts, if you'd be kind enough to share them in the Comments below.
You can still buy sealed Washington Dollar boxes from some banks, by the way, so if you missed out on getting a "First Day of Issue" for the Washington Dollar, no problem. Stop by your bank, pick up a box, and pay PCGS the 1,000 coin bulk submission fee. Since this is the only requirement for "First Day of Issue" now, why doesn't PCGS just call it what it really is, "Sealed Prior to Release" or somesuch? Why desecrate the sacred "First Day of Issue?" Because all of the novice collectors and non-expert investors out there wouldn't pay good money if they knew the truth! This sure sounds dishonest to me! The point here is that just like the "First Strikes" misnomer, we are going to have tens of thousands of coins entering our market with a misleading designation on them again, courtesy of PCGS.
If it seems to my regular readers like I dislike this company a bit, well, you're right on the money! PCGS engages in a lot of activities that are detrimental to our hobby, in my opinion, such as aiding and abetting graded coin value fraud. PCGS knowingly allows perfidious eBay sellers to reference their slabbed coin price guide for coins that are in spurious, meaningless slabs. PCGS does not make any attempt to deter these fraudsters, as far as I've ever been able to determine, and for some reason PCGS won't even take the simple expedient of posting a warning on each page of the PCGS price guide, in bold letters where people would notice it, stating that the prices in the guide are for coins in PCGS slabs only, and do not apply to coins in any other slab. Just this simple warning would be enough to save a lot of folks from being ripped off. And it's not for lack of PCGS knowing about the problem, either. I have discussed this matter personally with PCGS executives and staff over the past few months. It is sickening to see the novice and uninformed buyers on eBay paying PCGS prices for overgraded coins in dealer-created holders, especially when something simple can be done to help prevent it.
And now we have a new avenue for scammers of perhaps a little higher order, those who effectively bribe PCGS into feeding a deep market of TV-buying clueless collectors, while defiling one of the most sacred designations, the "First Day of Issue." Thanks to this new PCGS policy, not only do "First Day of Issue" sellers no longer have to tie up their money actually getting the coins certified on the real First Day of Issue, these dealers can send the coins in as needed, over the next few years or so if the market warrants. And if the market doesn't warrant, they can always just spend or wholesale out all those boxes of sealed coins. PCGS has removed the risk for a few major dealers, at the expense of the average collector/consumer who isn't really getting a "First Day of Issue" coin at all under these terms.
So, based on the mounting evidence, just who is PCGS really serving? Itself? The major dealers who pay big bucks for their bulk submissions? Or is PCGS really acting in the best interests of our hobby as whole? I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts, if you'd be kind enough to share them in the Comments below.
Comments
Thank for your article. It is much appreciate. I have included some of the first strike issues on my web site at http://www.BiddlesBank.com Feel free to contact me by email or on my antiquated comment page.
oh yes, BTW, I am an idiot and my crusade against PCGS is also idiotic because my mommy didn’t pay much attention to me when I was a baby.
Why are you attaching PCGS. NGC is doing the same thing.
Thank you for your comments! First off, BiddlesBank, you’re a crack-up! I thoroughly enjoyed your amusing coverage, and I appreciate the links from your site. I think.
Allan, NGC does not do the “same thing” as PCGS. NGC’s “First Releases” program clearly states that they only accept coins which arrive at their designated locations within 30 days of release. In addition to having arrived within that 30 days, a customer can request that a date from a mint-sealed box be added to the label.
This is a very different requirement than PCGS’s, which clearly states that the coins can be sent to PCGS any time in the future as long as the inspection date on the sealed box pre-dates the 30-day point. (PCGS is wrong in their claim that the U.S. Mint seals these boxes, by the way. The coins leave the Mint in large containers called “ballistic bags” where they are sent to a private company called CoinWrap, Inc., which actually wraps and boxes the coinage.)
In addition to NGC’s more honest acceptance criteria regarding “First Day of Issue” coins, NGC also makes available free cards, which are the same size as the slabs, that go along with potentially confusing designations, and which explain what the designations mean. I don’t see PCGS making any kind of effort at all to help educate the novices and non-collectors who are foolish enough to believe that a coin designated “Early Release” was really released early!
Susan Headley
About.com Guide to Coins
First off I am a novice at all this coin collecting stuff, however it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what is going on & I couldn’t agree more with Susans’ assessment of this topic. It is confusing & I would think that the leading organizations would be leading the pack against fraud, yet appears as they are fueling some of it.
Personally my collection is quite small, but until I learn a bit more about this kind of thing I will stick to buying mint sets (or individuals) in original mint packaging as I believe it takes part of the guess work out of the equation.
Thanks Everyone,
The Yankee
Well I just bought a set of 2 Adams dollars from the US Mint and if the mint is lying then I guess PCGS has as much right as them. Supposed to be only 50,000 of these first day print on this card. You can find em at the US Mint online.
Thanks but I do believe I am getting a first day print.
Don’t care if it is certified or not, I would believe the US Mint before PCGS any day;
Thanks for the info
Kevin
PCGS PRICE GUIDE EXCERPT:
Series 12 — Flying Eagle Cents 1856-1858 Regular Strikes
Important Note: The prices listed in this price guide are for PCGS graded coins only. Coins graded by other grading services, or not certified by any grading service, may sell for different, often lower, prices.
This first strike designation is a farce, just another means to create a new market! A coin that is an early relase or first strike does not guarantee that the coin will be of better quality because it was one of the coins stamped from the fresh new dies. It is the coin itself that the determines the grade, which (if I remember correctly) is why we have coins graded in the first place! What difference does it make when in the chain the coin was actually produced. On another note: I have submitted several coins to PCGS (approx 100 in different orders)just as required, to the bulk department before the dates specified adding the $10.00 per coin on my subscription form but I never seem to get them back with the First strike, or first day of issue designation, I gave up!
I understand all you have written in your article I thank you for that insight of fact. None the less it seems to me that PCGS Modern Grades in slabs will create a tremendous demand especially all the fuss about the slews of errors that pcgs confirms in the Presidential series and only four coins have been minted. I made a tremendous profit on Modern Commemoratives, the mintages were extreamly low and the prices in slab PCGS in 69 were very cheap. I sold them later on for a tremendous profit. A lot of dealers thought that that colection 1982 -2001 was a bad investment. How wrong they were. My point is yes, the presidential coins are way overrated and priced a bit two high in grades over MS66. But in this day and age collectors want the best especially if they are listed in PCGS registery, like myself. I feel awful after reading your article for paying such a high price for some of the errors and higher grades in my collection. But than again I herd the same thing about the Modern Commemoratives , And we all know where those coins are now. ~~~~Scarce~~~~ I dont see many on ebay especially the UNC,MS69s PCGS slabed ones. I know the mintages are way, way higher in the New Presidential series, but as the coins are released more and more colectors are going to want them.I hope I ain’t going to be sorry I invested in the series, but I will keep your article and what you said in my thought, ty
I see nothing wrong with grading a coin as First Day as long as it is received by by the grading services in the SEALED Mint box and the stamped inspection date is on or before the first day of issue. It is the 1000 coin requirement for PCGS that is the real rip off.
Thank you.. about time someone spoke out, it seems it is turning into something like the credit reporting agencies. Three agents that can control your fica score, and you are not able to even see that precious score, except you pay or someone pays to see it for you.
Now that so many people are interested in investing in coins, just what the government wanted to make us save a bit, .. We little people, have to bow down to big wigs just to enjoy our new measly collection…… smile
NOT ONLY IS PCGS RIPPING OFF WITH 1ST DAY ETC BUT ALSO WITH THEIR GUARENTEES ON GRADED COINS I FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY ALL THEY HAVE TO SAY IS OBVIOUS CLERICAL OR MECHANICAL ERROR TOUGH LUCK IM A NEW COLLECTOR AND DIDNT REALIZE THE COIN WAS GRADED IMPROPERLY BY PCGS THE STANDARDFOR THE COIN INDUSTRY OR SHOULD I SAY CLERICALLY DEFIECENT
The “First Day of Issue”, is not only collectible but, wil increase in value. The issue for many is tha grading of an entire “Brick” of 1000 dollars. The best part of the FDI coins is that NO ONE CAN CRACK THEM OUT AND GET AN UPGRADE !!!!
If they crack them out of their holder….they are not going to get the FDI label! So, regrades are not likely, since you would have to submit the coin IN THE SLAB for a regrade…and that has the odds against it upgrading. It might seem silly to many. As for me, I am in for the long haul on these.