Has anyone ever given up on getting coins graded?

Any objective evidence for that 95% figure? TIA!

BTW, I am curious how you define a coin's value. There are so many different ways that one could define that. I tend to look at a marketplace of many willing sellers and many willing buyers and what the average price would be. But that doesn't work real well for things which are not easily fungible, like rare coins (or even many not rare coins). I think that the way I define value, there is indeed a difference in value in many/most cases between a coin raw and the same coin in a PCGS slab.

 

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Oh, I totally agree. Me? I don't do the grading thing, although I buy slabbed coins all the time. It's just cheaper to buy them already graded, and I don't have a reason to send any of my raw coins in. They're fine as they are. I'm simply curious about experiences people have had with getting their coins graded. For some, it seems that sending coins to NGC/PCGS/ANACS is a regular thing, and I find myself intrigued by it.

That's exactly what I meant. I guess the term "investment" wasn't the best choice, although that's still what it is. The word seems to imply "long-term" more often than not in numismatics. My curiosity is about the quick sale.

I couldn't agree more. I'm a collector, not an investor. I love the history and nuances of the hobby. I do sell coins sometimes, but it's always because either I want something else or my interests change. When I first started collecting in 2011 I was mesmerized when reading about all the famous hoards in the Red Book, especially Redfield. It was the same with "discovery" coins. I'm still fascinated by them. This sort of excitement is what I never want to lose.

Me too.

 

Are you an investor or are you a collector --- its not always about money sometimes its pleasure & satisfaction.

 

- That is too funny! LOL!

 

Amen, brother.

 

@Ike Skywalker

The fact you took my initial post as intended is most appreciated. Unfortunately, not everyone here does, and no matter how it's said.

 

May have, I took it a little more literally in the sense that if y is the increased sale price and x is the cost of grading then it has to be y > x

I just don't see much of a different for long term vs short term in this regard. I value the added flexibility of opening up multiple venues with a ready to go graded coins especially since different things do better at different venues as opposed to hoping a local offer is sufficient.

Granted there are people that can sell online raw successfully, but it is certainly harder and riskier as a seller especially a new one. A false claim here or there on decent value items can quickly be the same cost that a few submissions would have been.

The one exception would be a quick flip on something that sold out lightning fast and just take the smaller profit while everyone else waits on grades.

 

Well yes and no. I was basically stating that someone should consider if it is worth the cost of grading. If the coin will sell for less than or equal to the cost of grading, there's no point of the submission. If the coin has a shot at a grade level that has a large price jump, it may be worth the risk. If the coin is a key date that generally gets ignored if it's not certified, then it's worth the cost. A person may also need to consider if they want to be without the coin, or funds from the potential sale of the coin for a couple of months. Sometimes a quick raw flip pays off just as well as getting the coin graded when you start to consider all of the other factors.

 

Ive been there quite a few times, and knowing how to grade really comes in handy.
This one time, i sold raw to a dealer, as opposed to submitting. For a quick and easy flip, well, he only told me what the grade came back as, instead of showing me. There was a BIG price jump in the next grade.
Hmmmmmmmmmm (Lesson Learned)

 

In theory, yes. In practice, no. I have an 1867 Two Cent piece that is raw, which Bill Fivaz grades MS-65 RD (I think he is a little high, but whatever, that is beside the point). In that grade, the coin is worth over $3000. If I tried to sell it in its current raw state, I'd be lucky to see more than $300 for it, maybe $500 if I took it to a true expert at a show. Certified, however, is a different story. There would not be a single seriously-interested party who would not pay the MS-65 RD price (or reasonably close to it). Is the value of a coin not what someone is willing to pay for it? There is a clear difference between what someone is willing to pay for a raw coin and what someone is willing to pay for a certified coin, so they are "worth" two different amounts.



This coin was only worth $40-60 raw at a show. But once in a slab, it was magically worth over $200.



This coin was only worth $50 on eBay when I bought it raw (in auction format). Once certified it sold for $300.

 

You make an undeniably excellent point, no doubt about it. However, what you're calling added "worth" is exactly what many of us refer to as added "value". The coin itself doesn't change; only the packaging does, but said packaging can, and often does, make a great difference.

 

One thing that we have overlooked in getting a coin slabbed its better protected than being in a 2X2 or a flip even in the best book. I am all for it.

 

Certainly a fair point, but air-tites or the like do the same, and at a fraction of the price. If the "slab" type of holder is preferable, Amos used to (and perhaps still does?) sell a very high quality holder similar to the white old-ANACS ones. In fact, the inserts were identical (short color in some cases), and they were much nicer than their commonly-seen junk PCGS-like "premium" version. There are others, of course, but if one simply wishes to protect a coin, particularly one not worthy of a submission on it's own merit, there are other, significantly cheaper options available.

 

Any more it seems that it's just the same price slabbed or not.
Some times I just slab them myself, and put my own stickers on too.

 

I do the same in some cases, especially those that would never get holdered, like "hobo" coins. Some of my self-slabbed Ike Dollar Skulls:

 

This is not a fact, this is specifically your definition for the value of a coin that you are entitled to, but it is not fact as you make it seem.