Imperfections: Deal Breaker or No?

What would bother me more is for the same price I paid, having to look at a note with stains, rips, folds, pin-holes etc. which is what all the notes at that price look like... I would find those issues far more distracting

 

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I know exactly what you're going through @Skippy Topaz.

Very early on I set my sights on both the Bison and Chief. When I saw asking and auction prices for uncirculated examples, I had to rethink my wants. I saved and saved and then saved some more. I wanted a mid grade, original, no problem note with good eye appeal. Patience is paramount.

 

I think a little damage adds more character. Sort of like how I prefer coins with a bit of circulation compared to blast white mid-range MS ones.

Every imperfection has a story. Like, what's the store behind these burns? Why does this have a hole in an odd place?
Life isn't perfect and neither should my notes be.

But mostly because they're SO much cheaper

 

For me it's less about patience than having a limit to what I want to spend on a single note. I know I can find a nice note, I just don't want to pay $1,500 for it...

At this point I really have all the notes I like/want. I bought the majority of them about twenty years ago, the Chief, the $5 Educational, the Woodchopper etc. Only have about ten high end notes and got them in AU or Gem condition (aside from the $5 Educational, that's probably a VF 25) but for some reason never got the Bison and now that I decided to get one, the prices are probably three times what they were back then..

The second challenge has always been that I'm not interested in Graded notes, and it seems harder and harder to find nice ungraded notes because most of them are all sealed up and this Bison being in such nice condition (not Graded condition) was a great addition

 

There's a reason notes like a Bison or Chief are graded. As a general rule, people like to verify and protect valuable collectibles. Most new collectors admittedly can not grade notes and some notes are worth hundreds of dollars more at just one grade higher....VF up to an XF. And finally, when it comes time to sell your note, other collectors will have more confidence buying a graded note, then they would taking your word about it's grade.

And after buying any graded note you can take a pair of scissors and cut it out of the holder. I've done it. A note being graded is not a condition, it's just a paid, expert evaluation/opinion.

I'll almost guarantee you, if you walked by a dealers table and two coins were sitting side by side, one perfect and one with obvious flaws and they were priced the same, you would buy the perfect one. I know I would. I'm not willingly adding "character" to my collection, I'm looking for eye appeal.

 

I'm aware of why third party grading exists but I'm just not the typical enthusiast. Don't care what its value is only insofar as how much it will cost me to add it to my collection. I think its value is a cool aside, know it's valuable but I collect things I like and think are cool. Once value and reselling enters the equation it crosses the line into investing and I'm not an investor.

As CGC undoubtedly was well aware.. I'm not a fan of slabbing anyway. They do it to baseball cards and comic books.. and once a comic book is sealed inside a graded case it's no longer a book, it's an commodity just being bought and sold based on it's value not because it's a cool comic with great art etc.

Well, not exactly.. they wouldn't be buying it sight unseen but I have no plans to sell any of my notes. Hopefully the kids and grand kids can enjoy them for what they are and not because they are "valuable" assets

 

Slabbing a note is the smart thing to do, especially where high value is concerned
Protecting and safe guarding should be job one if you dont care about value at all
I guess its moot point.

 

I'm curious - what do you define as high value? I only have one single "valuable" note, a $1 Educational in ~VF. It's living life as a free willy

 

Well its up to you decide, after all it,s your money, iam only giving my opinion
I collect only investment grade MPC and have several that are worth 10K plus but
That still does not mean i throw the less valuable ones around.