Building my 12 piece US gold set in a couple weeks. Question for the experts.

I have a better idea for you. Take a formal grading course and then buy raw coins. Education is hardly ever a bad purchase.

Try starting here:
https://www.money.org/NMS-seminars
Silliman's course. Exactly what YOU need.

Late March in Pittsburgh. What could be finer?

 

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Living on a small Island in the Pacific?
But seriously I would take the education.

 

It needs to have some higher ground. Those low-lying atolls are in danger.

 

I've been in the same quandry as you in the past.

I love the pre33s design. I would love to buy slabbed MS66s and crack them out so I can look at the fine details.

But that's the problem. No matter how you document the coin once it is OUT of the slab then it's NOT graded anymore. Once you touch it, accidentally drop it (don't ask me), get finger oil on it .. then it's not the same grade as once before.

There is nothing that connects your cracked out coin to the slabbed one except your "opinion". And coin dealers don't consider that at all in valuation. One can easily have 2 coins, and say the other less one is the one from the slab.

So, I decided just to get the ones closer to spot, AU/BU. I stay away from the cleaned ones though. For me, I haven't missed the "MS66" and probably enjoy the coins much more than if I bought slabbed. And enjoy the "less cost" factor too versus cracking out higher grade ones.

One could wait for a high grade slabbed "details" coin too to crack out to save some money just for the idea that you are buying a higher grade coin.

 

Also keep in mind some of these coins that carry a significant premium may have been resubmitted several times to get the grade they ended up with. The slab could represent hundreds of dollars in value. Throwing that away is foolish.

As I said above and as others have mentioned as well. If you want raw coins, buy raw coins. They are plentiful. If the coin is in a slab, it's probably there for a good reason. If you don't know how to properly grade them yourself yet, then you also won't be able to realize why a particular coin might be in a slab.

 

I wish i had the time to do these

 

I appreciate everyone's advice! I completely understand where everyone is coming from. 100%. Just for me, I do not like the slabs, there are no coin shows where I live, and I can not look at any in person. I did the math, and to buy a full set of AUs from a good dealer online would have cost me about $8000-$8500. Buying a full set of graded coins MS-64-MS-65, two MS-63s, one MS-62, and one MS-61 cost me right at $4000 more. That's not a small amount of money, but I can live with that. I know they will be nice, and that's about 3oz of gold. I will live, and I will be very happy with my collection. I am actually thinking that I may do a second set of all AUs in a month or so just for fun. Who knows. Anyways, thank you for the advice. it is all true and from knowledge in the hobby, but I'm not concerned with resale. I want these to look nice for me, and honestly I have many more much larger investments that I already plan on using one day. The gold is purely for fun, and can become my future kid's "problem". I'll post pictures of the set when it is complete!

 

It will be fun to see.