Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 9/26/2011

Question
Dear sir,

i currently purchased a British India half rupee (1945) coin from ebay india. coin is certified with INSCGC certification and states that coin is UNC of MS-62 grade. It has an INS certification no 089IND84039678. It seems that coin is authentic but certification seems to be fake. Kindly give some info about INSCGC grading as i cannot figure out any such grading society

Answer
Hi Bhargav,
What you have is a "self-slab". This is not really from any reputable company, it is just one or a group of dealers who do this in order to try to sell their coins for more money. Basically it is a scam, and a violation of ebay rules. You would have no problem getting a refund for this coin, as eBay policy clearly does not allow graded coins for any except 5 companies that are considered reputable.
Here is a list of all known grading companies, including reputable, non-reputable and "self-slabbers". The 5 reputable companies are shown in bold print: http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/ebay-to-change-policy-on-cer

The companies are listed at the bottom of the page.

Most of the non-reputable companies either grade coins too high, or grade coins that have problems and would not be graded at all by a reputable company.

Thanks for the question! =)