Don't hear much about PCGS's "Sniffer" any more. Anyone have any reliable info on it?

Bushmaster

Assuming it is still in use, do all submissions get sniffed? Or just suspicious appearing coins? Or coins of a threshold value?

Has it been improved, or tweaked, since it's introduction?

Hopefully a forum member that has worked at PCGS can chime in. (Possibly former PCGS employees are prohibited from divulging SOP, but it would be nice if this thread contained factoids instead of speculation and guesses ><

TurtleCat

I have read on the CU forum a few times that it isn’t used anymore and hasn’t for some years. 

Nutmegcoin

TurtleCat said:

I have read on the CU forum a few times that it isn’t used anymore and hasn’t for some years. 

That's what I recall as well, but do not recall who posted it.

CACfan

Most coin doctors have learned how to neutralize the smells of sulfur, etc.

lkeigwin

There's been a deafening silence about the Sniffer for more than several years. Not a bark. It was supposed to detect banned treatments intended to deceive. Putty, Blue Ribbon, and a host of other substances (some not family-friendly).

Then there was the Secure Plus scanning device. It was supposed to take digital scans to identify resubmissions. Altered coins. Even those stolen.

All were lofty goals that didn't work out. PCGS deserves kudos for trying.
Lance.

john

Did anyone thank Ford for the Edsel? Or, give Ford kudos for trying?

There were some enthusiastic parents with lofty goals that named their sons- and in a few mislead cases- daughters, Edsel, but it may as well have been Sue, given the suffering the poor male child endured.

Society quickly sniffed out this problem and amended it, though.

I wonder, was the PCGS official product identifier for the Sniffer named Edsel?