Read this thread on Collector's Universe to find a discussion on "first strikes" by kool-aid drinking CU members, as well as truth-tellers like me who ultimately get banned from the forum for telling the truth.
Threads like those and many like them exist on the Collector's Universe forums, but what is never revealed publicly by the shady people that own that operation is that truth-tellers are banned from the forum without notice, and no notation of "banned" is ever listed under the user's ID or profile, so that the person is essentially silenced without anyone noticing.
And what we're talking about here is PCGS' fraudulent coin labeling practices. Most specifically, their "first strike" pedigrees, that they erroneously place on all coins shipped to them within a certain time period after release by the US mint. It may be common sense to think that the first coins released by the US mint will also be the first coins struck, but the US mint has repeatedly said in press releases that this is NOT the case. They have repeatedly said that more than half if not all of a coin's mintage is already complete by the time the first coin is sold to the general public, and they have also stated that they have no inventory system in place to determine when a coin was struck. Therefore, neither the US mint nor PCGS has any way of knowing if a coin is a first strike or not. So why does PCGS continue to label their coins first strikes? In my opinion, it's fraud.
Or maybe it isn't fraud, for you see PCGS decided to be clever in covering their tracks by TRADEMARKING the term "first strike" and REDEFINING it to suit their own purposes! Now, PCGS defines "first strike" as "first shipped"! Imagine that! I suppose if PCGS had invented the term first strike they could define it however they wish, but that is not the case. "First strike" is a long-established and clearly defined term within numismatics. Its definition is self-evident--it refers to a coin among the first struck on a new die. Even if we conclude there is no industry-wide accepted definition of the term, just reading the term "first strike" brings about the obvious definition to most people--coins that are among the first struck. It's not that difficult to see why naive collectors believe that their slabs labeled as "first strikes" are among the first coins struck, and of course they also believe them to be of superior quality than coins struck at later dates.
PCGS' anal position and staunch defense of their own dubious actions is what is wrong with corporate America today. The greedy corporate executives cannot bring themselves to admit what a huge mistake they have made, and their pocketbooks won't allow them to correct the situation after the fact. Third party grading companies are ponzi schemes--they operate in profit only so long as more and more millions of coins are submitted each year, and when the coin supply dries up or have already been slabbed, they can only function through crack outs and resubmissions. To boost revenue, they play pedigree games and launch marketing campaigns with their labels. "First strike" is perhaps the most popular of these.
And what is so wrong with PCGS trademarking the term (or trying to, whether they succeed or not is a different story), and redefining it? Well for one thing, there IS a such thing as a "first strike". As has already been covered, a first strike coin is a coin among the first struck with a new die. While the US mint does not have any way of knowing which coins are struck first, there are some exceptions. One such exception is the first day covers (coins encapsulated on cardboard along with a postage stamp and postmark)--these coins the US mint does specifically pull from the first day of production. Those coins ARE legitimate first strikes. So if PCGS or some other company decides "first strike" means "first shipped", what do we call legitimate first strike coins? Perhaps we call those "first shipped" in some sort of bizzaro word term exchange?
Where does first strike come from anyway? Coin collecting has been a hobby ever since coins have been produced. Before modern striking processes of the latter half of the 20th century, dies were often poorly made and wore out very quickly, and they were often used long after their expiration date, as it were. Thus, first strike coins were always the most brilliant, had the best strike, the most detail, and sharper contrast to those coins struck later in the die process. It was always advantageous for the collector to locate a first strike coin to save in their collection. And so the term has its roots in classical collecting, and its definition should remain unmolested even though the modern striking process has invalidated the term. Today, dies last much longer and are replaced far more often, so coins are generally just as brilliant latter in the process as they are at the very beginning. Still, collectors and novices know what first strike means and they still believe those coins to carry a premium over latter struck coins. That fact should tell you what motivates PCGS in falsely attributing the term to coins on their labels.
Here's the US mint press release on "first strikes". Please read it:
US mint press release on first strikes
A more thorough blog on this subject updated regularly:
The Auction Watch Blog
eBay guide:
PCGS bans users who tell the truth about First Strikes
eBay guide:
"FIRST STRIKE" Pedigrees are a SCAM, Beware of the LIE!
eBay guide:
"First Strike" 2006 Gold American Buffalo, Prove It!!!
There are numerous resources available on the internet and in publications exposing this shady company (Collector's Universe) and the first strike scam. Too many to link here. But I would like to get the word out so if you see a link with excellent information, please forward it to me or post it here in the comments section.
The above is all just my opinion, of course.
Threads like those and many like them exist on the Collector's Universe forums, but what is never revealed publicly by the shady people that own that operation is that truth-tellers are banned from the forum without notice, and no notation of "banned" is ever listed under the user's ID or profile, so that the person is essentially silenced without anyone noticing.
And what we're talking about here is PCGS' fraudulent coin labeling practices. Most specifically, their "first strike" pedigrees, that they erroneously place on all coins shipped to them within a certain time period after release by the US mint. It may be common sense to think that the first coins released by the US mint will also be the first coins struck, but the US mint has repeatedly said in press releases that this is NOT the case. They have repeatedly said that more than half if not all of a coin's mintage is already complete by the time the first coin is sold to the general public, and they have also stated that they have no inventory system in place to determine when a coin was struck. Therefore, neither the US mint nor PCGS has any way of knowing if a coin is a first strike or not. So why does PCGS continue to label their coins first strikes? In my opinion, it's fraud.
Or maybe it isn't fraud, for you see PCGS decided to be clever in covering their tracks by TRADEMARKING the term "first strike" and REDEFINING it to suit their own purposes! Now, PCGS defines "first strike" as "first shipped"! Imagine that! I suppose if PCGS had invented the term first strike they could define it however they wish, but that is not the case. "First strike" is a long-established and clearly defined term within numismatics. Its definition is self-evident--it refers to a coin among the first struck on a new die. Even if we conclude there is no industry-wide accepted definition of the term, just reading the term "first strike" brings about the obvious definition to most people--coins that are among the first struck. It's not that difficult to see why naive collectors believe that their slabs labeled as "first strikes" are among the first coins struck, and of course they also believe them to be of superior quality than coins struck at later dates.
PCGS' anal position and staunch defense of their own dubious actions is what is wrong with corporate America today. The greedy corporate executives cannot bring themselves to admit what a huge mistake they have made, and their pocketbooks won't allow them to correct the situation after the fact. Third party grading companies are ponzi schemes--they operate in profit only so long as more and more millions of coins are submitted each year, and when the coin supply dries up or have already been slabbed, they can only function through crack outs and resubmissions. To boost revenue, they play pedigree games and launch marketing campaigns with their labels. "First strike" is perhaps the most popular of these.
And what is so wrong with PCGS trademarking the term (or trying to, whether they succeed or not is a different story), and redefining it? Well for one thing, there IS a such thing as a "first strike". As has already been covered, a first strike coin is a coin among the first struck with a new die. While the US mint does not have any way of knowing which coins are struck first, there are some exceptions. One such exception is the first day covers (coins encapsulated on cardboard along with a postage stamp and postmark)--these coins the US mint does specifically pull from the first day of production. Those coins ARE legitimate first strikes. So if PCGS or some other company decides "first strike" means "first shipped", what do we call legitimate first strike coins? Perhaps we call those "first shipped" in some sort of bizzaro word term exchange?
Where does first strike come from anyway? Coin collecting has been a hobby ever since coins have been produced. Before modern striking processes of the latter half of the 20th century, dies were often poorly made and wore out very quickly, and they were often used long after their expiration date, as it were. Thus, first strike coins were always the most brilliant, had the best strike, the most detail, and sharper contrast to those coins struck later in the die process. It was always advantageous for the collector to locate a first strike coin to save in their collection. And so the term has its roots in classical collecting, and its definition should remain unmolested even though the modern striking process has invalidated the term. Today, dies last much longer and are replaced far more often, so coins are generally just as brilliant latter in the process as they are at the very beginning. Still, collectors and novices know what first strike means and they still believe those coins to carry a premium over latter struck coins. That fact should tell you what motivates PCGS in falsely attributing the term to coins on their labels.
Here's the US mint press release on "first strikes". Please read it:
US mint press release on first strikes
A more thorough blog on this subject updated regularly:
The Auction Watch Blog
eBay guide:
PCGS bans users who tell the truth about First Strikes
eBay guide:
"FIRST STRIKE" Pedigrees are a SCAM, Beware of the LIE!
eBay guide:
"First Strike" 2006 Gold American Buffalo, Prove It!!!
There are numerous resources available on the internet and in publications exposing this shady company (Collector's Universe) and the first strike scam. Too many to link here. But I would like to get the word out so if you see a link with excellent information, please forward it to me or post it here in the comments section.
The above is all just my opinion, of course.
I originally wrote this for an eBay guide, found here:
The Truth about the Washington Dollar Upside Down Variety
I began listing some auctions explaining the truth about these coins, hoping it would be seen in search results when the erroneous "error" coins showed up:
One of the "get the word out" auctions
Before I go any further, I want to direct my readers to the official US mint website, and let you read what they have to say on the subject:
US Mint Statement
Here is what the US mint has to say:
"Presidential $1 Coins With "Upside-Down" Edge-Lettering Are Not Errors
It has come to the attention of the United States Mint that some people are offering to sell so-called George Washington Presidential $1 "error" coins with "upside-down" edge-lettering on on-line auction sites. These coins are not "error" coins. The Presidential $1 Coins are inscribed on the edge without regard to their "heads" or "tails" orientation.
The edge-incused inscriptions on Presidential $1 Coins are the year of minting or issuance, "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust" and the mint mark. The United States Mint incuses these inscriptions on the edge of each coin at the second step of a two-step coining process. In the first step, the blanks are fed into a coining machine which impresses the obverse and reverse designs onto the coins, and dispenses the coins into a large bin. In the second step, the bin is transported to the edge-incusing machine, into which the coins are fed at random, without regard to their "heads" or "tails" orientation. Therefore, statistically, approximately one-half of the coins produced will have edge-lettering oriented toward the "heads" side (obverse), and approximately one-half of the coins will have the edge-incused inscriptions oriented toward the "tails" side (reverse)."
Why am I writing this guide? Sheer disgust, to be blunt. As I was browsing completed auctions on eBay the other day, I noticed literally hundreds and thousands of auctions cluttering the search engine claiming that the upside down edge lettering variety was a "rare error", and even worse--I noticed 2 completed auctions, one for close to $500 and the other for $100, where eager/misinformed bidders had literally thrown money away at worthless, common junk. They believed the hype, and they mistakenly believed that the upside down edge lettering was the "error" being discussed on primetime news networks. The truth is of course, there have only been 2 verified true error coins in the Washington dollar series thus far--one is the "smooth edge" (no strike on the edge), and the other is the blank obverse (no strike on the obverse of the coin). The upside down edge lettering is neither rare, nor an error--I cannot repeat this enough. It is not a mint "mistake", either.
Here are some interesting facts about the new presidential dollars:
The US mint is producing AT LEAST 1.2 BILLION OF THEM in 2007 alone. That's over 300 million for each president. BILLIONS OF THEM, people. These are not rare. By no definition of the word, can these ever be called rare.
HALF of all presidential dollar coins will have upside down edge lettering. Half will have rightside up edge lettering. There is not "correct" and "mistake"--both are struck exactly as the mint intended, without care or consideration for which side of the coin was facing up when the edge lettering was applied
These dollars are the same size and shape as the failed Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony dollars. Those never circulated, and THESE NEVER WILL EITHER. What this means is that the vast majority of the BILLIONS of these dollars minted will remain in brilliant uncirculated condition. Forever. And ever. Buying these for future returns would be like investing in envelopes.
You can buy special mint rolls DIRECTLY FROM THE UNITED STATES MINT website for $35 per roll. You can go to your local bank and buy OBW (original bank wrapped) Strings and Sons rolls AT FACE VALUE. That's $1 per coin, and not a penny more. You can buy all that you want, if you can get your bank to order them for you. Otherwise, it's usually 1 roll per customer. Either way, the mint produced BILLIONS of these hoping they would circulate--they are worth $1 and only $1, and the mint would love for you to buy as many as you like for $1, too.
I've seen the most outrageous statements made about these upside down edge lettered varieties that I read them with utter disbelief. Here are some of the blatant, outright lies being circulated on eBay listings about this variety (NOT ERROR!):
"This is the biggest mistake the mint has never made!"
"These are the error coins everyone is talking about!"
"These are surely to increase in value!"
"There is no telling how many of these slipped through the mint!"
"Get these before the supply dries up!"
"These are ultra rare! Contact me if you want more--I've got thousands of them!"
If you were the victim of this hype, I feel sorry for your loss, I truly do. I hope this guide has educated you and helped to prevent further losses in the future. For those that even considered buying these dollars and haven't yet--you're in luck. I hope this guide saves you time, money, and stress. There is nothing wrong with liking and collecting these coins. It's a great way to introduce young people to the hobby, and to some history about our presidents. But wherever there's genuine excitement over something new, there's always going to be opportunistic hucksters that try to take advantage. Together we can make a difference and get the word out, and a put a stop to this embarassing nonsense that will only serve to tarnish the numismatic industry.
The Truth about the Washington Dollar Upside Down Variety
I began listing some auctions explaining the truth about these coins, hoping it would be seen in search results when the erroneous "error" coins showed up:
One of the "get the word out" auctions
Before I go any further, I want to direct my readers to the official US mint website, and let you read what they have to say on the subject:
US Mint Statement
Here is what the US mint has to say:
"Presidential $1 Coins With "Upside-Down" Edge-Lettering Are Not Errors
It has come to the attention of the United States Mint that some people are offering to sell so-called George Washington Presidential $1 "error" coins with "upside-down" edge-lettering on on-line auction sites. These coins are not "error" coins. The Presidential $1 Coins are inscribed on the edge without regard to their "heads" or "tails" orientation.
The edge-incused inscriptions on Presidential $1 Coins are the year of minting or issuance, "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust" and the mint mark. The United States Mint incuses these inscriptions on the edge of each coin at the second step of a two-step coining process. In the first step, the blanks are fed into a coining machine which impresses the obverse and reverse designs onto the coins, and dispenses the coins into a large bin. In the second step, the bin is transported to the edge-incusing machine, into which the coins are fed at random, without regard to their "heads" or "tails" orientation. Therefore, statistically, approximately one-half of the coins produced will have edge-lettering oriented toward the "heads" side (obverse), and approximately one-half of the coins will have the edge-incused inscriptions oriented toward the "tails" side (reverse)."
Why am I writing this guide? Sheer disgust, to be blunt. As I was browsing completed auctions on eBay the other day, I noticed literally hundreds and thousands of auctions cluttering the search engine claiming that the upside down edge lettering variety was a "rare error", and even worse--I noticed 2 completed auctions, one for close to $500 and the other for $100, where eager/misinformed bidders had literally thrown money away at worthless, common junk. They believed the hype, and they mistakenly believed that the upside down edge lettering was the "error" being discussed on primetime news networks. The truth is of course, there have only been 2 verified true error coins in the Washington dollar series thus far--one is the "smooth edge" (no strike on the edge), and the other is the blank obverse (no strike on the obverse of the coin). The upside down edge lettering is neither rare, nor an error--I cannot repeat this enough. It is not a mint "mistake", either.
Here are some interesting facts about the new presidential dollars:
The US mint is producing AT LEAST 1.2 BILLION OF THEM in 2007 alone. That's over 300 million for each president. BILLIONS OF THEM, people. These are not rare. By no definition of the word, can these ever be called rare.
HALF of all presidential dollar coins will have upside down edge lettering. Half will have rightside up edge lettering. There is not "correct" and "mistake"--both are struck exactly as the mint intended, without care or consideration for which side of the coin was facing up when the edge lettering was applied
These dollars are the same size and shape as the failed Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony dollars. Those never circulated, and THESE NEVER WILL EITHER. What this means is that the vast majority of the BILLIONS of these dollars minted will remain in brilliant uncirculated condition. Forever. And ever. Buying these for future returns would be like investing in envelopes.
You can buy special mint rolls DIRECTLY FROM THE UNITED STATES MINT website for $35 per roll. You can go to your local bank and buy OBW (original bank wrapped) Strings and Sons rolls AT FACE VALUE. That's $1 per coin, and not a penny more. You can buy all that you want, if you can get your bank to order them for you. Otherwise, it's usually 1 roll per customer. Either way, the mint produced BILLIONS of these hoping they would circulate--they are worth $1 and only $1, and the mint would love for you to buy as many as you like for $1, too.
I've seen the most outrageous statements made about these upside down edge lettered varieties that I read them with utter disbelief. Here are some of the blatant, outright lies being circulated on eBay listings about this variety (NOT ERROR!):
"This is the biggest mistake the mint has never made!"
"These are the error coins everyone is talking about!"
"These are surely to increase in value!"
"There is no telling how many of these slipped through the mint!"
"Get these before the supply dries up!"
"These are ultra rare! Contact me if you want more--I've got thousands of them!"
If you were the victim of this hype, I feel sorry for your loss, I truly do. I hope this guide has educated you and helped to prevent further losses in the future. For those that even considered buying these dollars and haven't yet--you're in luck. I hope this guide saves you time, money, and stress. There is nothing wrong with liking and collecting these coins. It's a great way to introduce young people to the hobby, and to some history about our presidents. But wherever there's genuine excitement over something new, there's always going to be opportunistic hucksters that try to take advantage. Together we can make a difference and get the word out, and a put a stop to this embarassing nonsense that will only serve to tarnish the numismatic industry.
20/03: Welcome to the new blog!
This is certainly a first for basestealer.com. I guess we'll play around with it and see how to goes. Feel free to post a comment and try out the blog. But, nothing naughty. Thanks!
20/03: Welcome to Nucleus CMS v3.22
This is the first post on your Nucleus CMS. Nucleus offers you the building blocks you need to create a web presence. Whether you want to create a personal blog, a family page, or an online business site, Nucleus CMS can help you achieve your goals.
We've loaded this first entry with links and information to get you started. Though you can delete this entry, it will eventually scroll off the main page as you add content to your site. Add your comments while you learn to work with Nucleus CMS, or bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you need to.
We've loaded this first entry with links and information to get you started. Though you can delete this entry, it will eventually scroll off the main page as you add content to your site. Add your comments while you learn to work with Nucleus CMS, or bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you need to.
