A thread was started about a PCGS graded Barber Half at Teletrade on Collectors Universe, and the coin appeared to be cleaned and scratched. A few comments later and they poofed the thread since Collectors Universe is PCGS's message board.

Not only is this violation of our rights for freedom of speech, and a Constitutional violation, it's cencorship at it's worst. Below is the picture of the coin in question.

I welcome any opinions on this coin and holder. Click on the picture to see the larger file.

Well, it's actually not a violation of our first amendment rights. That sight is owned by PCGS and they have a right to delete any material or ban any member they wish for just about any reason. That said, the fact that they removed the thread certainly speaks to their (lack of) morals, which is not surprising. Even the fact that they would grade such a hideous, overcleaned coin without noting that on the package is not surprising. If you look at a lot of key dates graded by them you will find that a nice sized portion of them are overgraded. That's not to mention all the toned coins that they overgrade just because they 'look pretty'. As far as I'm concerned, the only useful thing they do is authenticate coins, and now even that's becoming a poor substitute for experience since the market is getting flooded with fake PCGS holders.

I agree with you on the statement of PCGS grading of key dates. They seem to over look the problem coins within the key dates of all series.

What I am admiring about this boards posts is found here.

Totally agree about PCGS much more likely slabbing key dates, even if they are suspect.

We have had them bounce a typically MS65+ gold Eagle because of too many bag marks, yet they slabbed a MS63 St Gaudens that had twice the bag marks on a Key date.

As the grading of high-end coins is critical to all of our collections, it is sad when we see such inconsistencies that effect us adversely.

I am a huge believer that as collectors, we all need to be our own grading companies when buying, and continue to know when we are being under, or over-graded for whatever reason,and not settle for a poor grading.

However the "Big-Two" dominate the high end slabbing, and I do not see this changing anytime soon, so we all need to keep on our toes and this forum is a great place to voice our "beefs, without censorship.

I own, administrate, designed and run this forum, and you can tell me that I'm wrong, that you don't agree with me or like me, and I will not ban, delete or censor your posts or threads, as long as it's about me or numismatics in general.

I'm glad you posted this, and you're correct. This is the most FREE forum on the internet! I hope you join us and post more of your thoughts.

You are correct the coin has obviously been cleaned and is scratched so why was it not body bagged. Here is the real question, what is it doing with a CAC sticker. They proclaim themselves the graders of the graders, the last line of defense so to speak, were they drinking when this coin was submitted.

Doesn't a black sticker denote that the coin has been overgraded?

I believe that CAC only has two type of stickers, the green one means that it has met CAC's standards and falls in the mid range of what they consider acceptable for the grade, the other sticker(it may be black) means they think the coin is undergraded. I rarely see then use that sticker.