Wednesday, July 6, 2011

How Genuine is Encapsulated Coin?

Below is an interesting British Trade Dollar 1911B silver dollar coin auctioned at e-bay using BUY IT NOW at Rm200 ,encapsulated and graded by ANACS as AU-55.

Let’s see what it means by AU-55:

AU-55 (Good About Uncirculated) – Sharp legends and devices show only a hint of wear on the high points. Remaining mint luster must be at least half; great eye appeal.

Tampereda Capsulated British Trade Dollar Coin
Tamperedb Capsulated British Trade Dollar Coin
If we looked closely, we see:
  • Two or more large digs mark on the Britania’s right shoulder,
  • Stratches on the coin especially at the breast and middle part of the legs,
  • The strikes seems to be light and crude on both sides of the coin
  • There are many nicks at the edges.
  • There is also the China-Great Britain description on the top of the encapsulated coin.

Sound suspicious? Should we buy now as it is so-called chopped/certified by ANACS??

Not sure, perhaps it is more towards the term “caveat emptor”- lets the buyer beware!!