I have been looking at the sales of a series of British Historic Medals from 1848 on eBay. Every time one gets posted I grab a picture and I record the final sale price. I have noticed that the majority of medals posted are all from the same seller in the USA. The seller incorrectly lists their Country of Manufacture as China, even though the original ones are British and made in Birmingham. Two fairly recent auctions caught my attention. An NGC graded medal was sold on 22 Feb this year and the same medal in a PCGS holder was sold by the same seller 2 months later on 26 April 2017. 1st listing http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1848-China-Medal-The-Chinese-Junk-Keying-Great-Britain-Coin-NGC-BHM-2317-AU-58-/332126918418?ssPageName=ADME:XED:GB:1123&nma=true&si=PPMhJTm%2BBBHzjvrIAZu44nDhToM%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 2nd listing http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1848-China-Tin-Medal-Chinese-Junk-Keying-Great-Britain-PCGS-BHM-2317-SP-55-/361956037430?ssPageName=ADME:XED:GB:1123&nma=true&si=PPMhJTm%2BBBHzjvrIAZu44nDhToM%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 There could be any number of explanations for this, the buyer may have returned it and the seller may have decided to get it regraded with a different company. Looking back further I saw that this was not the first time this had happenned with this seller. I found another situation where an NGC coin was sold and then the same coin in a PCGS slab was sold by the same seller, but this time with a six month interval. https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/4325836-054/Non-Numeric/ http://www.pcgs.com/cert/83056440 Two instances is hardly a pattern and the seller has perfect feedback so the recipients seemed happy with their items. I do not know if there is a way to tell when coins were submitted or registered but this would help with the timelines. I also do not know what the turnaround time is for slabbing, it may well be easy to return a medal to the seller, seller to get it regraded and finish a second 7-day listing within a two month period. There does not seem to be any suspicion about the seller and my own ignorance of the slabbing industry shouldn't cast any suspicion on his reputation but I am not confident in putting $2k on a medal until I can figure out what is going on. Stating that the medals are made in China is a big concern as they are not, but China does have a reputation for making replicas. http://www.pcgs.com/cert/83056440 is mislabeled as BHM 2319 when it should be BHM 2320, the difference is subtle but well documented. Is any of this normal or plausible?
Have you asked the seller why he is listing something that is made in China when it clearly wasn't? Though it could a template he is using and he has missed it?
I haven't contacted the seller yet. Wanted to know a bit more about the slabbing process and the turnaround times first. I thought it took ages to get them graded but maybe that is just the transport time from Australia, this guy is in the states so it might be quite quick for him.
