To me "fake" means someone other than the company shown on the slab produced it. In this case, it looks like a real NNC slab, and the grade doesn't surprise me. That's typical for NNC.
Perhaps I should have written "pseudo-certification" given that there is no point in certifying a coin two grade levels above its real grade, except to fool people.
Strangely I find myself liking these basement slabbers. By kicking away the crutches of outsourcing a large percentage of the hobby we will see collectors forced to learn something about their collections instead of throwing money away.
The activities of basement slabbers combined with Chinese produced fake PCGS slabs might finally kill of third party grading. Good!
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
When I started to actively collect again a couple of years ago, I saw some blog post titled "Don't Buy the Holder!" I thought this was the most stupid thing I had ever seen in coin collecting. Who would need to post something so stupid? Why not "Put a Winter Coat On When It's -25º!"? But then, I realized some people, indeed, buy their coins based on what the holder tells them to believe. I couldn't believe it.
So far I haven't bought a single slabbed coin. If I ever did so, I would be most likely to take it out of that ugly thing.
What doesn't help the hobby is that some people invest in coins like others invest in gold or in land. I say this, but overall those people are not interested in circulating coins, so I'm safe.
I would be careful with my criticism of any grading company on an open forum. I remember when Accugrade sued their critics, and while they didn't win, I'm sure it wasn't fun being sued.
