I wanted to slab my 1971-D kennedy half dollar DDO. I just like the look of slab holders. I sent it in 34 days ago. I asked for the 15 day service.
I know with them it is not a quote, but a guide line. I have sent them two E-mails asking about my coin, no answers. I sent my coin in a regular envlope, with 4 forever stamps. My return adress is on the envlope. My dad put the address on it, so that is right. It is the only coin I sent down, so It's not a big order.

1. Should I be concerned about my coin?
2. Did I put enough postage on?
3. Why don't I have my coin?
4. What should I do next?
5. Did you use IGS before?

Link to IGS web site: http://www.igsgrading.com/costofgradingcoins.htm

My last E-mail (before I spell checked it).

I'll answer these together, because they are so closely linked to your answer

Yes, you should be very concerned about your coin. You most certainly put enough postage on the envelope to send the coin out. However, from what I gather of your post, you sent the coin in a mylar flip, put it in a plain envelope with your submission form, and sent it off to the "grading" company.

First of all, you did not mention any form of tracking or delivery confirmation. Anything like this should go Registered Mail, so that it is for the most part "under lock & key", with its voyage being closely scrutinized. In the event you decide not to register the letter/package, at the very least you should always have Delivery Confirmation to confirm that "a package" was actually delivered to the company, as well as proper insurance in the instance that it may not have been delivered.

Even with Delivery Confirmation, you still do not have "proof" that the contents were delivered as mailed, nor that the individual actually received the package (even with a P.O. Box, it could have been "misplaced" in the wrong box, for instance). A signature is most definitely your best friend when delivering something to company you have never dealt with before.

Sadly, unless this IGS actually received your coin AND they have some form of scruples, you'll never see your coin again.



It is quite possible they never received it. And even if they did, you have no proof that they received it. So, it is possible they are unscrupulous and will decide to keep the coin. Then again, giving the benefit of the doubt, they may have had a lot to do lately and it really is taking this long. If they are not sure about your attribution, they may very well have sent it to an attributer to validate the DDO. This will add more time to the whole process.



My biggest concern would be the simple fact of not responding to your inquiries. You should most definitely have somebody give them a direct phone call (their number appears on their website, from what I can determine), and make a direct vocal inquiry. If you do not receive an adequate response from the phone call, you most definitely want to put your request in writing. Write them an inquiry and send it via USPS Certified Mail. Someone will have to sign for it even through the P.O. Box. If they decide not to retrieve the letter and thus not sign for it, the Post Office will keep record of it. Certified Mail is the most widely accepted form of validating legal correspondence in most States' public law.

The payment form will also need to be validated. They accept check, money order, and credit cards. I am assuming that even with a credit card, the number was to be written on the submission form and they would then process it when they receive the submission form. This payment could validate whether or not they had received the submission form.

If it was paid via check, verify with the bank if the payment had been processed. If it has, then they most definitely received the submission form AND the coin! Same with a money order. If it was a third party company's money order, it will take longer to validate, but needs to be done, nonetheless. Contact the money order company and request verification of the canceled money order. Beware! It could cost a few bucks to do so!

If it was paid with a US Postal Money Order, then you can have the Post Office verify whether or not the money order had been cashed/processed. You will need to have the original stub for the money order to do this. I would also suggest that you actually have the Post Master of your local Post Office verify the money order. Explain to him the situation and why you need to verify the payment. If the money order has in fact been processed, then ask the Post Master if he can initiate a Postal Inspector complaint for you to investigate possible mail fraud against IGS.

Finally, if the payment was made via a credit card, the credit card company will have to be called and an inquiry made with the payment amount and company name (International Grading Service or IGS) to see if the payment had been processed yet. If payment had been processed, then explain the situation to the card company and ask them if they are able to mediate with the merchant to open talks without a reversal of charges. If worse comes to worst, you can ask for the charges to be reversed, file a claim through your card company, and go on to the next step.

If no payments have been processed, then you may assume that they never received the coin. However, this may not necessarily be true. In fact, if they are unscrupulous and do decide to swipe your coin, it would be quite stupid of them to deposit or charge any payments!

Irregardless, seeing as they are located in Tennessee, after you have sent your certified letter, or if payment has in fact been processed, contact the Attorney Generals' offices of both your home State and the State of Tennessee. Fully explain the situation, what you have done so far to remedy the situation, and whether or not the company has open/kept communications with you and whether or not payment has been processed.

At that point, it's a matter of keeping your communications open with the Attorney Generals and IGS until the matter is fully resolved. Most definitely a long and slow process, but, in my opinion, the best way to take care of this matter. If either Attorney General decides that action is necessary to remedy the situation, also contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and file a complaint, especially since damages had incurred.



No, and like all other "graders", I probably never will.

Remember to always looks at both extremes as well as the middle line. Consider all possibilities and act accordingly. Have patience. Always act in such a way that there is no cause for accusation against you, no matter how upset or frustrated you get over a matter. And let everything in life be a learning experience.

Best of luck to you and your coin!

Who is this "grading" company? I don't think I have heard of them.

This is an old link
They are on the list of the 107 grading companies
Why not send the coins to be photograded on a coinforum
Does not cost anything and is probably a lot more accurate

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.c...threadid=296016

PS If you have a computer and a printer and buy a coffin you can have it slabbed without risk

Why would I want my coin in a coffin? I love my coins, and want them to love life. I don't care to tomb and doom them.

Well I do not have a single slabbed coin and I even never ever saw a slabbed coin in my life
So I wholeheartedly agree

I have 4-5 coins in slabs, all USA except for one Scottish groat from David II, that I would like to bust out of the slab. I despise slabs. The USA coins I will leave in the slabs because I will very likely sell them in the next few months. Buy the coin, not the slab.

You're not doing a good job of selling those slabbed coins.

Well over here we seem to be happy to buy the box and the certificate and to get a coin with those two

A typical example of such a genius selling a box and a cert and he is using the picture from another auction so the cert number does not match with the nr 4117 he is selling


http://cgi.ebay.de/Gold-Saeerin-20-1-2-Unz...tem320215353034

Ill be the pro slab voice of the group...

If you think your coin needs to be slabbed... spend the extra money and get it slabbed by one of the top tier services... did you call this company to see:

A. if they are still in business

B. if they are accepting submissions


and remember... you get what you pay for..

Someone will fulfill their end of a bargain, then the coins go.

If, and if, I had to submit a coin I would go with NGC, I like their slabs a little better than the PCGS ones, but both companies grade fairly reasonably and are respected in the industry. I am in the minority of collectors in preferring unslabbed coins. I accept that.

As for the shipment above, it was not sent registered, insured etc. and surely must be gracing the personal collection of some nefarious postal varmint right now. I just hope it was not that consequential.

SMS, is it ok with you if I use part of your post in my next E-mail? (with no names mentioned).

ALWAYS send coins registered or at the very least insured. NPV's (nefarious postal varmints) are lurking everywhere.

Some of my coins are slabbed and some are raw. I wish I didn't have to slab them but this is 2008, not 1968, and when I eventually sell a coin I hate to be told, "Dude, it's not real..."

NGC and ANACS are the only two companies I use, the others are just selling plastic.

have you received any e mails back from them yet?

Ouch! That sucks
Hope it all ends up well

I've seen that list before but every time I see it there are more. I would assume by the time most here try that site, there will another 107 TPG's. Those are growing just as fast as books on coins.

No.

Sent another E- mail, no answers. I'll call monday.

First things first...

This "IGS" is not a recognized grading service by the industry. If you're paying anyone for a holder, you might as well pay a recognized company.

Second, the coin in question was very likely worth 50 cents...sorry, but there was no recognizable doubling on the coin. The images you posted in the other subsection of this forum are of a normal 1971 half dollar. So all told, you're out 50 cents plus postage.

Third, did this company have any guidelines for sending coins, and did you bother following them? If they had no guidelines, that alone should have been a BIG RED FLAG not to send anything to them.

Fourth, make sure you learn from this mistake. I tried to tell you but you didn't listen. Hard-headedness in this business will only have you losing coins and money.

Yes I did learn from what you said. The problem is that you told me after I sent my coin in. I sent the coin In to see if It was what I thought It was. I really am not hurt if it is a normal coin. Keep in mind I am a 13 year old with a scaner for a picture device. Not an experienced numismatic photographer like your self.

Also being 13 I can't get a job to pay for a $15 per coin charge with a 5 coin minumim. I am only fllowing child labor laws.

I under stand that I should have used different postage, but again it is after the fact.

You only looked at the bad pictures that I posted to say that I posted them. You have to realise that this is a windos 98 with dial up internet. It is not really aqble to use a digatal camera.

Also I do not see myself as hard headed.

Live and learn. Thankfully it wasn't an expensive lesson, and who knows, it might still work out.

I'm pretty new to numismatics myself (especially on ebay), and I've purchased my fair share of overpriced/overgraded coins. Everyone on this forum was a newbie once too, so don't let their comments make you think that they've never has lessons of their own

I give you credit for doing more than most 13 year olds.
Instead of just hanging around the house playing XBox and downloading free music, at least you are doing something useful with your time.

I find that getting something wrong is the best way to learn how to do it right.
So don't feel so bad, I could tell you stories that would make you laugh but they weren't funny to me at the time.

Live and learn. And next time just use ANACS, they are the kindest of the big three certification services.

Well if it was a DDO it was around $100 value, but I payed 50 cents for it.

Any news?

The lady on the phone was a bad lier. She said that they finished it and sent it out UPS. Well it says on the web site that they shiped USPS. But either way the coin should be here thursday or friday.

All's well that end's well. Please let us know how IGS graded the coin.

Still no coin. If its not here by monday to the post office I go with a very humbling (to them) letter.

Got the coin yesterday. It was AU-55. I can't post a gppd pic, but I can see the dobbleing.

I'm curious, as I have never heard of this company, did they grade it AU-55 DDO or just AU-55? I ask for two reasons, first being, is the coin really a DDO according to this company; seeing as Mr.Daughtrey says it is not, I am left wondering its legitimacy. And secondly, do you feel having a third party grading company slabbing a coin actually being worth your time and money? I am quite against having a coin sent in for anything other than authentication, so I am always curious on peoples reasoning.

It did not say it was a DDO. I wonder if it was strike doubbleing. Mr.Daughtrey Could you take a look at it ( mail it to you w/ your instructions.)

Really, I wanted to see if it was a DDO. On their site it said that they would list varites and mint errors. I put DDO on the form when I sent it.

If you want to see more of the story, look at my thread in the error forum.