Recently a Facebook coin group member posted a notice stating that he had found the coveted 1982-D Small Date bronze cent–verified by PCGS! Only two have been discovered, in 1916 and 1919, although social media has used the rarity to lure newbies into thinking that have the variety or that it can easily be found.
Here is what he wrote:
“This right here is for everyone that doubted me … chew that up and swallow it. no I’m not gonna be a jerk. I’m super excited. I have proved the 1982D small date with the weak D mint mark and a QDO. And a TDR it has now been verified and authenticated by PCGS as a new variety.”
He provided this proof:
Some 180 Facebook coin group members commented on his post. Here’s a snippet with Tyler Broughton noting the inconsistencies of his supposed PCGS email:
True, the person may be just hoping his submission brings the desired result. We all have been there. But what to make of the letter? It is seemingly informed and may have convinced viewers that indeed, the person did find the rarity. Many commentators congratulated him on his lottery-level find.
Without divulging his name, or the Facebook post and email, I contacted PCGS. A representative confirmed that the company would never send an email like this in advance of encapsulation. There is no Express/Gold service level. There is no Variety/Plus team (that’s NGC). Neither would it divulge internal means of certification.
Let’s take a breath.
It may be that this person indeed found a rarity. For his sake, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he so believes in his diagnostics that he is sharing the good news before he gets any news. That, however, is not the point of this article. This is: How do we as hobbyists deal with a verification email that might sway us to believe that a coin, indeed, is an ultra rarity? Suppose we saw an email like this on a coin that we might want to purchase? Is this a new way to fool mhobbyists?
My answer was ChatGPT. I fed AI a few basic facts, the rarity, the date of submission, the service level and a few other details. It took me 2 minutes. Here’s what I received:
This is a chilling discovery–not of a rarity–but of how a rarity can be disguised with a fake email or letter, courtesy of AI. I won’t do this, but I could have found PCGS letterhead and pasted the above there. I could invent an email from PCGS–even with an employee name. I could no any number of things, and machine intelligence would help me.
We as hobbyists have to be on top of every new method to beguile us. This may only be the start with AI providing fictional text, video and images of our fondest numismatic desires.
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