1923 Peace Silver Dollar NCI Photo Slab Lustrous Choice BU From Old Collection

1923 Peace Dollar – Housed in a 1980s Vintage Numismatic Certification Institute

Lustrous Choice BU Example in a vintage green and black NCI Photo Slab Certificate # **MAL-7276-053**, graded on November 18, 1987 and Registered to Investment Coins.

As was custom during this era, split grading was done, one grade for the obverse and another for the reverse and in the case of this coin the grade was one notch shy of the Gem BU level.

It is not hard to authenticate this as being the same coin by looking at the toning marks. The most noticable being the water spot just below We (In God We Trust) and above 19 in the date which matches the photo exactly size and shape

A secondary identifier, a bit harder to see in the photos is another water spot, light toning  a skinny diagonal water spot line which begins at the tip of the serif in L in LIBERTY extending SE abd ebds just about at the O in GOD. Near the end of that toning stripe to the left is a small water spot/toning spot about 1-2 mm above the right side of the N in IN

The water spots/toning spots are a little more accentuated on the photo which of course was taken 40 years ago at a different technological era in time in addition 40 years of the coin having time to continue to tone and subtly change its appearance. Regardless, the water spot in We makes it undeniable this is the same coin.

 Like a fingerprint or a snowflake, the patterns of toning or contact marks or other imperfections on any coin will always be unique. 

This era, within the first two years of the birth of PCGS and just a little over a year after NGC was launched saw dozens of pop-up grading services spring up and photo certs were still quite popular. ANACS had been using Photo Slabs from as far back as 1972 and they used them right up until 1986 when the inception of encapsulated plastic slabs were born

Lustrous coin, accurately and conservatively graded in my opinion and an artifact of whose collectability lies as much in the photo slab as it does the coin

This coin comes from an old collection that was acquired at a recent auction. Lots of fresh material that has been off the market for decades will be slowly trickling in

NCI – Numismatci Certification Institute – I originaly thought Heritage Auctions acquired NCI as NCI address is the same as the present day Heritage Auctions. The actual story is below:

 The NCI and Heritage Connection

• The Founders: NCI was founded in Dallas, Texas in 1984 by Jim Halperin, the co-founder and co-chairman of Heritage Auctions (then known as Heritage Capital Corp./Heritage Rare Coin Galleries).
• The Corporate Structure: NCI operated as an affiliate or subsidiary under the Heritage umbrella rather than an independent company that was bought out. It even operated out of the exact same building as Heritage in Dallas.
• The Pioneer Status: NCI was the first major privately owned collectibles grading service, preceding modern third-party graders like PCGS and NGC. It initially issued paper photo-certificates before transitioning to clear plastic “slabs” in the mid-to-late 1980s.