Look at this coin sale!

You can't, they don't have the right look and will not straight grade, and they have to straight grade to get the lowball premiums. Raw coins like the one in the first post have potential, but typically won't draw the premium until they get into a straight grade slab.

It's the same mindset as those who pay high premiums for MS-70 coins. Both groups are striving to reach the extreme ends of the grading bell curve. And those that don't have that mindset see one or both groups as odd. Why pay big money when I can have one in better condition for less, or why pay big money for a 70 when I can get one in imperceptibly lower condition for a lot less.

And if one grade is worth a lot more than the next one down there is a perverse incentive to resubmit an existing one until you get that grade bump.

 

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I'm going to experiment. I never carry anything in my left pocket at work. My phone rides in my arm rest in my end loader. I'm going to buy some junk Kennedys and pack them together in my pocket. I bounce around all day. Then I'm laid off in the winter. I can walk around working my fingers through my pocket agitating the halves. That's one way those got that way. In someone's pocket or change purse. Nothing to lose lol. .99 start!

 

How is the wear pattern any different on coins that bumped up against each other in someone’s pocket versus in a rock tumbler? If only coins were put in a tumbler wouldn’t the result be the same?

 

A rock tumbler uses abrasives that show on a coin so it won't straight grade.

 

They do have eye appeal in that the coins are all wear with no damage. You don't get a scratched up, bent, or dinged up coin in a grade P01

 

There are all kinds of media that can be used. You can get everything from ground corncobs, to sodium bicarbonate (also good for heartburn ), to submicron aluminum oxide. The stuff you can use is endless. Not everything is 100 grit corundum sandpaper.

I always wondered about trying things like fabric or saw dust and hard rubber balls. Throw something in the tumbler that mimics natural wear conditions and as "Ronco" Ron Popeil used to say, "set it and forget it". Tumble for a few months, checking occasionally. I'm half tempted to buy a used laboratory jar mill and try it myself.

I used to grind/mill 25,000 lbs of ceramic raw material a day. It's not rocket science. I'm sure somebody has figured out how to get natural looking wear patterns. I think the harder trick is to get the toning/patina to look like an old worn coin after tumbling. But then again, Better Living through Chemistry

 

A few years back, I came across a Gilbert Gemcraft rock-tumbling kit I got for Christmas one year as a child. I tried firing it up, and it was deafening. That's why it was a direct-to-closet gift -- it made an intolerable racket, and you were supposed to let it run for weeks at a time. That wasn't happening.

I'm sure someone must make a hobby-grade tumbler with a sound-muffling enclosure...

 

CAC stickers on a lowball? Wow. I'm speechless.

 

Why wouldn't they? It's not any different than someone sending in a 01-03 key date. If someone wants to send them in they'll evaluate it

 

But what does it mean? If it's one of the best coins for its grade, doesn't that make it a worse coin for a lowball set? If it gets a gold bean, does that mean it should really grade FR02 or AG03 instead of PO01, in which case it's a failure?

 

Gold bean would be a disaster for a lowball. Green sticker I just take it to mean it looks nice for the grade especially for the PO1 since you can't go any lower so there really can't be a low end of the grade when it's literally the floor. There is kind of a joke where you wonder if lowball sets should be sending them in and bragging about the ones that fail.

 

@-jeffB

Here's an opportunity. You should start the Certification Reassessment Assignment Program (CRAP) for coins that are on the low end of the assigned grade. The lowball crowd will be down your door trying to the coveted CRAP sticker.

You'll make a fortune.

 

Wow... this is a tough crowd.

When I commented on the CAC sticker, I simply found it ironic that a coin in the worst grade would get certification sticker. Seems opposite. Nothing more than that. It seems like an interesting contrast.

When I commented on the fact that Morgans P01s are more prevalent than modern P01s, I was simply referring to the fact that Morgans have had 150 +/- years to wear down, but Kennedys have only had 50 +/- years to wear down. The population reports may or may not support that. However, I'm not sure how many people are really sending in their poor coins for grading. It was simply a comment that is seems like older coins have more opportunity for wear. Perhaps that is why the modern Kennedy fetched a high price.

 

Don't worry, nobody is making fun of you. Just the "lowball craze".

Just to be clear, I don't have an issue with what people collect. I've acquired a lot of "bottom feeder" coins over the years actually think the idea of putting together a set of them is kind of cool. However, I do think it's silly to spend big money on a low grade coin, pay to have it slabbed, then pay to have it CAC'd just to have some bragging rights on a TPG Registry site.

Only my opinion, your mileage may vary.

 

People very rarely do it just for bragging rights. If bragging rights comes along with it so be it, but they do it because they enjoy them. This was a thing long before the registries started for them, the registries are a direct result of people requesting them

People need to stop demeaning how people collect by trying to say its just for registry points.

 

To be clear, I have no issue with people collecting whatever they please. My own collection has a lot more "misfit toys" than showpieces.

I do think the chase for registry points highlights flaws in the TPG system, and I feel like this "CAC on lowball" business is a particularly funny example of how silly things have gotten.

 

In light of the video I linked and my logic background, it would be the P⊢¬P (P proves not P) sticker, signifying that the coin bearing my sticker has been judged not to deserve my sticker.

 

There certainly are some people that just chase points, but my point was really that they're few and far between. Most people use it for inventory tracking and a lot of the top sets are focused more on quality than if x would give them slightly more points when they think y is the better coin.

I'm not a registry person myself, I don't like being constrained by sets and just like to get what I like. I will use it as a tracker and just not load the coins into any sets. There certainly are some weird aspects of the scoring in it though I'm not sure you could really change it much at this point. If you change it the existing sets get mad so I guess they could make new sets with some different scoring like not weighing red so much for copper.

At least for the PCGS registry the ability to make the digital album out of your set is a huge draw and I know there are a lot of people that do it just to use that feature. I would even bet a large majority couldn't really care less about the points and just let their set fall where it may in the rankings

 

Jeff, did you take your pills today?

 

Yes, but how about just tumbling a bunch of coins slowly with no media? Wouldn’t that be like coins tumbling around in your pocket?