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PCGS WTC Coins Time Line
- May 29th, 2008
- Posted in PCGS Coin Population
- 11 September 2001, one of the worst days in American history next to the attack of Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941.
- 11 September 2001, the New York State Quarter 9-11 Firefighters coins are made with the special flag inserts. The New York State Quarter 9-11 Firefighters coin project was started at the PCGS Collectors Universe Forum by PCGS authorized dealer Mitchell Spivac and members of the Collectors Universe Forum forum. 100 numbered coins were finally completed with the help of PCGS. The US Flag insert used with the coin was designed by Senior Vice President of PCGS Miles Standish. 100% of the proceeds are donated to the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) Widows and Children’s Fund. The auction of the 100 coins (numbered 1 thought 100) raised well over $42,000 thousand dollars. 9-11 quarter full story
- 1 November 2001 the workers at Ground Zero in New York reach the Iron Mountain Vault.
- 1 November - 1 December 2001 Coins are sent to Collectors Universe for certification. Collectors Universe does not grade coins so the coins are only certified and sonically sealed as "Gem Uncirculated" The initial sale of these coins is advertised by only a few authorized dealers which state that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of these coins would be donated to the relief fund set up for the victims of September 11, 2001.
- 1 December 2001, PCGS gets into the picture and starts grading coins from ground zero. The coins being holdered by PCGS receive the respective grade and then are sonically sealed with a bar coded certification number. On some of the coins, the bar code is hidden behind the PCGS hologram.
- January 2002-June 2002, PCGS continues grading the different coin recovered as ordered by the “Originators” Coins encapsulated were gold, platinum, silver, copper etc. etc. Some coins were paired up in special sets with limited edition markings such as the 1 of 1000, 1 of 1140 etc. etc. Coins from approximately 10 different countries were recovered and authenticated, some with very low populations as stated on the certified holder.
- January 2001- 2004, collectors start to include World Trade Center Recovered coin into their registry sets although they are not recognized as WTC pieces when the certification number is looked up in the PCGS data base.
- January 2002 – Present, the controversy surrounding the WTC recovered coins has the numismatic community split up. Some collectors love the coins and consider them invaluable pieces of “American history” while others hate them with a passion and refer to them as "death coins". In the meantime, the WTC coins continue to increase in value as other similar non WTC PCGS certified coins of the same year trade for considerable less.
One last we would like to mention is that these coins are not for everyone! We respect everyone else’s opinions, point of views and we hope that you do the same for everyone else too? If you are of the opinion that these coins should not be sold for a profit because of where they came from, that is your opinion and we respect it. However, to us, they are priceless and we will proudly display them for all to see no matter who buys or sells them.
“We Will Never Forget”