Mystery Cent not very interesting

My March issue of COINage magazine arrived last night and the first article I read was on the Lincoln "Mystery Cent."

Let me summarize. In 1961 a barber in Ohio finds a multiply struck 1936 cent, in 1972 he sells it to a businessman for a reported $25,000. He then goes on to offer first $25,000 and then $50,000 to whoever finds the mate of the coin as he suspects that another coin might've gotten into the presses when it was struck. The cent goes on to tour a few coin shows and whatnot and then most people forget about it.

From a numismatic standpoint, I think that the coin is interesting from as an error coin. I had to say that because there is dissension within the coin community because the owner has never allowed the coin to be authenticated and insists that its genuine but denies people access to it. He makes wildly exaggerated claims that it is the most unique (yes, I said "most unique" :-) ) coin ever minted and mentions it in the same sentence with 1804 silver dollars and the 1913 Liberty nickels.

I think what rubs me the wrong way is that the owner seems to be concerned mostly with making his coin make money for him "while it sits in the vault." Most truly philanthropic numismatists loan out their coins and permit them to be part of larger displays but this guy had his own museum at a Duff's Famous Smorgasbord in Pigeon Forge, TN. The first thought that came to mind with this guy was a comparison to the home shopping networks that hock coins for unconscionable sums of money and you get little in return (depending on what you bought, they might have a small amount of worth or in the case of the plated quarters, virtually worthless).

I am disappointed that COINage would spend an entire article on the Lincoln Mystery Cent. By doing this, it further plays into the hands of its owner, making money and getting free publicity for something that could not be real.

For one thing, it is not nearly as important as true rarities. Why else would it be that I've been collecting coins since I was in second grade and only now heard about this. Interesting...

What's going on with ANACS and ICG?

I've been trying to follow the mess at ANACS and ICG over the past month or so but haven't been able to paint an entirely clear picture. What I did manage to determine was that those that had been in charge of ICG decided to leave it, buy ANACS, fire most of ANACS staff and relocate it to within two miles of ICG's headquarters. Then ICG hired most of the previous ANACS staff (those that wanted to relocate). I won't say too much more because I'd probably misstate something but I was thinking about the hobby's perception of these two companies. Most dealers, either correctly or not, view NGC and PCGS as the top two grading companies, followed by ANACS and ICG (respectively). I'd always given both companies the benefit of the doubt since I didn't want to buy into hype that only two companies were capable of accurately grading coins. Now I must put out this disclaimer, I don't send my coins off to be graded. Funds are tight and if I have no plans on reselling in the near future, I'd rather put my money towards new acquisitions than just grading the old ones. BUT, this latest move (however you want to classify it) makes me cast a lot of doubt on them. Especially since there are ongoing disputes. ICG is suing several of its former employees for breach of non-compete contracts. With this in mind, if I were to send in coins to be graded, I'd probably pass both of them over and send them to NGC or PCGS. The bait and switch at ANACS/ICG is incredible when you think about it. If anyone has a clearer picture, please feel free to share it with me!