Bitcoin Forum

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/2012-1000-btc-casascius-bitcoin-1oz-999-fine-gold-dcam/888203

https://i.imgur.com/EOerhNK.png

25 BTC

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/2011-25-btc-casascius-bitcoin/888204

10 BTC

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/2012-10-btc-casascius-bitcoin-1oz-999-fine-silver/888205

5 BTC

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/2012-5-btc-casascius-bitcoin/888206

Were these graded recently or a while ago?

From my research, all pretty new in their database

and the 1000 was loaded with zero fee!!
https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/transaction/0cbe7d6ada866040e81b577c35b46dbea496b2c2826ed56a5b50d1f360872997

Very nice! That coin has some flaws though

That was pretty common in 2011 when the 1000 was sent.

Does anyone here have a pic with one in a slab?

Indeed.  I remember one of the big selling points of Bitcoin back then was the option to send transactions without a fee.  That led many people to develop businesses that undercut the existing system and really made Bitcoin special for the entire world.  It wasn't until years later when wallet developers stopped allowing users the option of sending with 0 fees and then capped the blocksize that fees went nuts and nearly all of the original businesses that made Bitcoin popular were forced off chain to develop their own solutions or go out of business.  If you were lucky enough to be using Bitcoin in 2011, it was an amazing experience that was certain to change the world and you are probably not reading this because you've moved on to other less restrictive projects where that might still be possible.  As for PCGS, they'll someday learn why grading physical crypto coins is a terrible idea and other grading services have stopped doing it.

Why is grading physical crypto such a bad idea?

I received the following response back today… I will keep everyone informed here.

—————————-

   
Toni Morse (Collectors Universe)
Aug 23, 2021, 14:30 PDT

Hello,
 
I have been informed that we are currently awaiting information to see if we are still grading bitcoins. Apologies for this inconvenience.
 
However, I will email you as soon as possible once I receive more information.
 
Thank you.
ToniPCGS Customer Service

Privileged and Confidential Communication. This electronic transmission, and any documents
attached hereto, (a) are protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
(18 USC §§ 2510-2521), (b) may contain confidential and/or legally privileged
information, and (c) are for the sole use of the intended recipient named
above.

Why do you think that it's such a terrible idea? None of these grading companies have said that they guarantee the value of the digital assets "inside" the coins or the legitimacy of the coins all together (whether they are real Casascius coins or not for example).  I don't see how grading these are any different than coins worth just as much and often much more.  Like many coins, for instance Denarius coins, they aren't verifying the legitimacy of the coins themselves, just simply grading/slabbing them.  The coin hobby is going to continue to struggle as the primary portion of the collectors (baby boomers) are rapidly dying off.  If they are smart, they'll grade these coins because..why not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I also wonder what you mean by saying that, I personally would not want to hold any physical funded metal crypto coins that are not graded for an extended time. They are too amazing and will continue gaining value forever, why take the chance of them degrading?

Did they ever get back to you on this?

I never heard back… I’ll see if I can reach her Monday.  8)

https://i.ibb.co/89PKJxb/FFC1-D511-516-F-4684-8-FF9-30-B0-A606-BA68.jpg (https://ibb.co/GRCxXM9)
https://www.pcgs.com/guarantee

I'm curious to know if they'll grade banknotes as well  ;)

Yes! :D
A fellow forum member got 2x Bitcoin Suisse notes and 1x Polymerbit note graded by them!! :)

https://i.imgur.com/OrGDGKH.jpg

Holy moley! Our work was graded?!  :o

So far so good…

I spoke to several PCGS team members this week regarding crypto. At first, I was instructed to a local dealer to assist with PCGS submission. Shortly after making appointment, I received callback that PCGS will “ONLY GRADE CASASCIUS COINS whose numbers are already listed in the PCGS catalog (#888203, #888204, #888205, and #888206). However, I received an  email Friday requesting a summary of my Casascius coins NOT listed in catalog!!  My reply included pictures of .1s, .5s, and 1.0s with their photo descriptions from “Encyclopedia of Physical Bitcoins.” Finger crossed… but I think it’s happening.  ;D

Congrats polymerbit! That is great news!

But why? They’ve already stated they don’t guarantee anything, taking them off the hook, so why the hell would you turn down business? It’s not like they know how to truly authenticate Cas coins either.

I can’t remember, does anyone know why ANACS stopped grading ?

I can't find that they ever stated an exact reason, but maybe the submissions just slowed down after ICG started grading (?)  ... & having dealt with them (over & over in some cases cuz they always fucked shit up somehow) :P over the years, I can say with absolute certainty:

1. They just suck - They dropped an MS69 Kialara error coin on the floor or something during a re-holder and put a giant ding on it. Never even compensated or replied to complaints, pushed the grade down. I actually auctioned it off here a few years back as an "aberration coin"

2. Paul DeFelice is a total fckn asshole - That time they switched to green labels, the prick threatened to send all my coins back ungraded after I complained for weeks after not getting my submission(s) back for over 3 months. FUCK that guy! ::)

3. Complaints maybe? https://www.bbb.org/us/co/englewood/profile/coin-dealers/anacs-1296-90023805/complaints

4. Fuck ANACS ... Can't really say I'm all that cool with PCGS yet either, they are pretty much a cookie-cutter grader IMO, but we'll see. I like the notes, but still, who is actually authing those and knows anything about them etc?? ::)

Cheers

I wonder if PCGS will grade redeemed items? In reading thread maybe only items in which the hologramed/key has to be securely attached?

^ exactly everything I was thinking. I have always disliked ANACS. Their slabs look like an accident happened in the machine when making them. The shape is terrible, the labels are ugly, etc.  To be honest I dislike them all for various reasons. I don’t like PCGS slabs, NGC are old farts …my buddies convo when asking the head of NGC why they don’t grade crypto coins.. “we only grade real coins”. Well you guys grade those McDonald’s Big Mac coins.. “those coins are really nice”. Lol gtfo here. I bet they are a bit jealous of the press PCGS is getting with the Casascius coins all over the news. Even made TMZ headlines lol. Just wish ICG had better slabs, they’ve been great to us.