Razor

Everyone says, "buy the coin, not the holder". I have a question about that. I realize there may not be a black-and-white right-or-wrong answer, but here goes anyway.

Let's say I bought a Lincoln silver UNC dollar coin (this part is not hypothetical since I really bought one) from the mint in February. It cost $32 plus $5 shipping = $37. I believe it is an MS70 specimen, but I could be wrong. Let's say I want to find out. Assuming I was able to submit it to PCGS, it would cost $20 shipping each way, plus the grading fee which is $15 for economy 3 to 4 week turnaround time. That would be another $55 bringing my total investment in the coin up to $87.

For $73 I could buy, right now, this MS69 coin on ebay. Please note this is not my coin that I am selling, nor do I have any plans to buy it. I use it only as an example.

What would be my incentive to ratchet up my investment to almost $90 on the coin I currently have? Furthermore, for those who say, "don't buy the holder", in some cases it seems the buyer has no choice. If I submitted my coin for grading the extra $55 would be factored into my price when (and if) I wanted to sell it. There is no way I would let it go for less than the $87 I invested in it to begin with. In that case, the buyer would most definitely be "buying the holder" as well as the coin. Of course, if it came back from PCGS as MS70 then it would be worth more than it would at MS69. Maybe.

The other side of that coin (heh, no pun intended) is if I wanted to buy the example Lincoln for $73, there's no doubt in my mind that part of the purchase price would be because of the expense involved to get it graded. It seems to me there's no way you can separate the coin from the holder (and what the holder states in writing) when deciding on a purchase.

Maybe this is a better question: how can someone sell a coin (such as the above example for $73) when it had to have cost them more than that to purchase it in the first place and then get it graded? Does PCGS give hefty discounts to dealers who regularly submit a lot of coins?