I just started grading a box of 70 raw coins from a long time dealer that any long time semi-major dealer would know. All coins are genuine. Out of the first 15 coins ONLY ONE met the minimum grade he requested. Ignoring the grades, 10 of the coins had obvious problems. What's that tell you? It tells me: I CAN'T GRADE! It should tell you: Know your dealer and test his expertise. Otherwise buy graded coins from the major services and still learn how to grade for yourself. PS In a stamp periodical I was reading yesterday evening, a collector took a look at his purchases over the years from major dealers and auction houses. After sending a large number of specimens to be checked, it was determined that a very large number had faults that both he and the seller had missed! Yes Virginia, there is a need for TPGS. IMO, any of you who don't check your collections NOW, will come to grief later.
There is no question that I have a few raw coins I purchased from a "trusted" dealer when I was starting to collect - a mere 4 years ago. Needless to say, with the information and skills I have developed in that time I now know I have about 7 less than desirable coins. Fortunately I don't have much money tied up in them so my education to follow your advice has not been too expensive. So now the only time I buy a raw coin is if it's a rare die marriage (cherrypick if possible) and only in series that I have spent considerable effort to learn. But I never spend any amount approaching big money unless it's slabbed. I have found the various tests we give ourselves on this forum mightily useful, such as GTG and "Did this CAC". I am a long way from being what I would judge competent, but much better than a few years ago. I thank all the Forum members for their willingness to share their knowledge and opinions. So do what every auto-didact does: Read, Look, Listen, Test. BTW, I followed the same self-directed course of knowledge and skill acquisition when I took up machining as a hobby about 40 years ago. I bought many books, was an assiduous follower of the various machinist discussion sites on the old Yahoo Groups, and learned by doing.
