Friday February 4, 2005
(Newport Beach, CA) -- A veteran rare coin dealer has returned to Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) thousands of cracked-out certification inserts – the informative labels placed inside encapsulation holders. The turning in of the old inserts will improve the accuracy of the PCGS Population Report and also generate over $13,000 to launch a new educational program by the American Numismatic Association.
On February 1, Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California, brought a crate to PCGS headquarters filled with 13,535 inserts he accumulated since the grading company was founded 19 years ago. The vintage inserts represented hundreds of millions of dollars of high-end PCGS-certified rare coins he bought and sold since 1986.
Contursi is donating to the ANA the 50-cents-per-insert "bounty" offered by PCGS for the return of tags, and PCGS Founder and President, David Hall, is matching his donation.
ANA Executive Director Christopher Cipoletti said the $13,535 combined donation from Contursi and Hall now will be used as seed money to create lectures involving exhibits in the ANA Money Museum and educational programs for traveling museum displays across the country.
"The inserts were kind of like my children. I didn’t want to let go of them all these years, and even had them cataloged like a library because they were souvenirs of the thousands of classic, high-quality rare coins I’d purchased and sold. However, I realized the importance of correcting misleading information in the Population Reports. It was the right thing to do," Contursi explained.
The PCGS Population Report is a continually updated census of over 10 million coins certified by PCGS, and helps collectors and dealers determine relative rarity by grade.
"We frequently remind dealers about the importance of turning in old inserts to improve the accuracy of the Population Report. Steve Contursi certainly set an excellent example for everyone," said David Hall, PCGS Founder and President.
Among the old inserts returned by Contursi were:
42 certified 1879 and 1880 $4 "Stella" pattern gold pieces with a combined estimated value of over $5 million;
130 round and octagonal 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition $50 gold commemoratives valued at over $5 million; and 168 High Relief 1907 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles valued at over $3 million.
"The returning of these 13,000 inserts will help the PCGS Population Report more accurately reflect the quantity and grade of specific, certified coins now in the marketplace," said Hall.
Contursi said he strongly encourages other dealers to turn in their old encapsulation inserts. He plans to make arrangements with Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) to return thousands of their old inserts he has accumulated since 1987 when NGC was founded.