1907 Indian Cent—help grading?

I hope I'm that well-preserved at 200,000,000 years old, lol.

The experts I showed the one in the upper-left to still don't know what it is. They think it's some kind of critter. See the head, nose, and ears on the left, and tail on the right? And the little feets? Cute little thing. These are from Mazon Creek, Illinois. That's how they can date them.

 

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Those are some really cool fossils! I’ve always been fascinated with fossils and really, really old items. I get excited when I find a 180 year old coin—I can’t imagine coming across a 200,000,000 year old fossil, LOL...!

 

So a question when it comes to slabbed coins. Because I’m still actively adding to my collection, but because I want to be smart and cautious, what grading companies do you guys usually trust? If I find a good price on a slabbed coin at auction from NGC or PCGS, am I pretty safe? I’ve bought a couple of silver Eagles slabbed by PCGS as MS70 and I’m wondering now if that’s pretty reliable or if buying a slabbed coin is just completely not worth it, just find a nice specimen that’s not slabbed and grade it myself...

 

A quick search did not turn up anything for SNGC grading company (from the picture). It is always a bit of a risk to buy coins that are not graded by one of the top three (or four) grading companies, but with time (and the help of CoinTalk), you should be able to distinguish authentic and false. BTW, with graded bullion, I think most members would advise against it.

 

Ok, cool. Curious as to why? Is it just that the cost premium isn’t justified or is there another reason?

 

Normally it is not worthwhile to slab coins that are less than $200-$300 dollars, you can buy a slabbed example for the cost of the coin + the slabbing and save yourself the trouble. This kind of goes for bullion, except the bidiots come into the picture and then it is worth whatever the market will bear.

 

Makes sense, thanks!

The one I bought was a 2012-W slabbed by NGC as MS70 for which I paid $36.

 

I can't make a definitive judgement from the photos, but it looks to have some very slight wear. Where the ribbon and hair curls meet is just a tad flat. The color looks a bit off, as though it might have been cleaned, but light and camera settings can have similar effects on photographs. 1907 is the highest mintage year and UNC specimens are plentyful. Great coin and thanks for sharing.

 

If it has been cleaned, which it has, it can't grade as high as AU58.