I've recently purcheased several coins that were graded by MCCS. MCCS has apparently gone out of business. Was my purchase a mistake? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Fred
Hope you didn't pay a lot for the slabs. There are some slab collectors and you might want to try to sell to them if you wish...
fwood, I don't believe that MCCS was considered to be one of the really good grading companies. So, I guess is depends on what coins you bought, whether the coins you bought match the grades on the slabs and what you paid for the slabbed coins. So, what coins did you purchase? If you could post some pictures, that would be nice as well.
Mccs Not sure if I've figured out this forum. . . . . . . I can't posy pictures but, the coins were Lincoln cents and Kennedy halfs. They are all graded PR70 DCAM. The cents range from 1978-S thru 2003-S and included 11 coins. The halfs ranged from 1983-S thru 2003-S and included 8 coins. I purchased both (haven't received them yet) for $510. I know you can't see what I've got but, any other words of wisdom. This is really a tuff hobby to get started in. Thanks in advance, Fred
that is an awfully big purchase IMHO for sight unseen coins. Especiialy without doing the research before hand. I do wish you luck and hope you can at least break even and not get screwed
Fred, when you want to post pictures, you do it through the "Manage Attachments" feature that's down below the area that you type. There is a "Sticky" post at the top of the main Coin Chat page that tells you how to do this. Well, I'm not very experienced in this hobby yet either. However, from what I've figured out so far, I can tell you this... I DO like to purchase graded and slabbed coins for now for the more expensive coins that I buy. I do this in part because I'm not confident in my own grading/authenticating ability yet. At least until you are comfortable with your own skills, I would stick with only buying graded coins from what you'll hear refered to as "The Big 4". These are four companies that are generally considered to be the best at what they do. They are NGC, PCGS, ANACS and ICG. Also, I would always want to look at whatever coin first before I buy it...even if it's a picture of the coin over the internet. I can tell you that I've seen plenty of graded coins that I just don't like because they don't have good eye appeal. Also, even coins within the same grade can have vastly different appearances. You could have two 1983-S half dollars. Both could be graded MS-64. However, upon examination, one could have some kind of crazy looking toning to it and the other could be completely untoned. The last thing is to check out fair prices for the coins you're buying before you buy them. You can do this by looking at auction "Prices Realized" on several online auction sites that are mentioned in other threads here. I personally just bought my first coin over the internet by participating in a Teletrade (www.teletrade.com) auction. So far, I really think Teletrade is a good company. They only sell graded/slabbed coins in their auctions from some of the more reputable third party grading companies. That's about it for now. I'm sure others with have more to add. Welcome to the hobby. It is easy to get frustrated, but you'll feel your way around before too long.
Fred, I did a little bit of digging around on Teletrade's price guide. It looks to me like if the coins you purchased truly were PR70 quality and were in PCGS holders, that any one or two of them could go for roughly what you bought the whole lot for, maybe more. Being realistic though, most would probably not be considered true Proof 70 quality if examined by one NGC or PCGS. You may get lucky though and have a few of the coins you bought actually be at this quality level. In reality, most would probably be in the mid to upper 60's range. Unfortunately, probably the best you could expect from those coins would be $10 a piece or so. Fred, the only other piece of advice I might want to give you is that you may want to stick to buying one coin at a time, at least until you get things a bit more figured out...but that's just my style of doing things. Oh, one more thing... I guess that wasn't the last. Please don't shoot the messenger. I hate to be the bearer of not-so-great news. I'm really glad you're here and hope to get to talk to you more. I would highly recommend reading lots of stuff on CoinTalk and asking lots of questions. This is a great resource.
Hi Fred, Here is my advice, subscribe to heritage auctions (it's free) http://www.heritagecoins.com/common/auction/pricesrealized.php, and whenever you are considering a purchase check them for their realized prices. Also get a red book, read up on it, and get aquainted with relative prices. Avoid 3rd party graded companies such as PCI, SGS etc. The ones that are the best are PCGS, NGC, ANACS, and ICG. Anacs is hands down the best, as they grade conservatively. Also, be weary of unslabbed coins, like a 1916-d mercury dime, or a 1909-svdb lincoln cent, as there are many counterfeits floating around. Try to get some dealer's grey sheets. These tell you the prices the dealers pay for coins, and you don't want to ever pay more than 15% over that IMO. Also, just read as much as you can. I'm new to this hobby, but doing these things has helped me a bunch.
MCCS Grading Thanks for your replies. I didn't buy the coins sight unseen. They were being sold on e-bay from a dealer out of the Philly PA area and were displayed there. I'm not sure if what I was seeing was really what it was quoted to be. How about as a start, I take the coins to a local dealer and ask their opinion. They are supposedly guaranteed and can be returned if (as you all seem to think) I got ripped off. You are probably right though, as a starter in one of the coin books I've purchased it said "if the price seems to good to be true, then it probably isn't". Anything else someone can think of I would appreciate knowing.
Fred I agree that you should send them back as soon as you get them....I never have heard of that grading Co. and I think I would have if they were any good.... Try to get your money back and read some good coin books and then buy the coin... Speedy
