Earlier this month, Independent Coin Grading (ICG) Company of Englewood, Colorado announced a they will use a new holder for ICG graded Presidential $1 Coin that will allow collectors to see the edge lettering. Since the edge lettering on business strikes can vary, ICG’s new Presidential View™ Holder features a pronged gasket that will allow more of the edge to be displayed but can be adjusted for each coin so that the date and mint mark will be visible.
ICG feels it is important for collector and dealers to be able to see the date and mint mark. “The mint mark can greatly influence the value of a coin.” says James Taylor, ICG’s C.E.O. “If I couldn’t see the mint mark on a 1909-S VDB, I probably would not buy it. The premise is the same with the Presidential Dollars.”
Since the US Mint’s production of business strikes cannot guarantee the position of the edge lettering, it was a challenge to design a holder that would work for any coin. ICG announced that their gasket is adjustable so that the date and mint mark can remain visible without disrupting their production line. Taylor adds, “we were able to design a gasket that displays the mint mark, custom fits each coin and does not disrupt our production line; so turnaround times will be seven days—guaranteed. We couldn’t be more pleased.”
ICG and NGC are the only third party grading services that has announced the use of special gasket inserts for encapsulating the Presidential $1 Coins. ICG is the only service that takes the variability of the edge lettering placement into consideration. It will be interesting to see how other third party grading services will handle this issue.
Image from ICG
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