The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 3, January 20, 2008, Article 32

MAN'S QUEST FOR U.S. MINT CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICTY

[A Los Gatos, CA man called in a local television station
consumer reporter to help him get a correct "Certificate of
Authenticity" for the commemorative coin set he'd purchased
from the U.S. Mint.  -Editor]

Here's a case where solid gold and silver coins might have
lost value because of a piece of paper, as a local coin
collector found out that can be quite an ordeal.  Homer
Leonard of Los Gatos began buying commemorative coins
years ago

He was pretty happy with his investments, until the day
this commemorative coin set arrived. It had the "wrong"
certificate of authenticity.

"Without the certificate of authenticity it doesn't mean
anything because the person you're selling to can't verify
exactly what it is," said Leonard.

What Homer actually bought was the American Eagle 20th
anniversary gold and silver coin set worth about $850
dollars. What the certificate said he bought was an
American Eagle gold coin set. All gold -- worth about
$2,600 dollars.

"When you have the certificate with the proper set it
means a lot," said Leonard.

So Homer called the U.S. Mint and asked for the correct
document.  "They're out of stock and when we get them
we'll get back to you," said Leonard.

A whole year went by, and no document. Homer worried his
coins might lose value without that piece of paper.

So we contacted the U.S. Mint and folks there said this
was a rare mistake. They did send Homer another certificate
and again, it was wrong. On the third try, Homer did get
the correct paperwork.

The U.S. Mint says it's tracing how those mistakes happened,
and it said the certificates are only good if they come
with the right coin set, so no one should be able to misuse
them.

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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