Can we trust current slab coins?.

band saw ?

 

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Slabs also offer excellent physical protection for the coin.

The gaurantee has some value as well but this is more difficult to value.

Collectors who aren't paying attention in any market are likely to get burned. At least slabs limit the ways in which one can get burned.

 

'No, we should not continue to buy slabs, nor should be ever have bought them!

If we (all of us that is) return to the concept of buying coins, not slabs - which means looking through the slab to the coin, and determining for ourselves what it's proper grade is - we won't get ripped off by self-slabbers, and we won't overpay for coins slabbed by the so-called "big four".

I have several answers to several of you`s (your) comments. I will start off with Sak....

Some of us buy and sell in the course of our collecting addiction. Ebay, and the online community has put the average collector at a parity with the Storefront local dealers and Coin World advertisers. In a way that was not imagined only 5 or so years ago. We can now compete online with the dealers and buy at market prices. We can also sell desirable coins at the full market price online.

I agree that the grading of modern US mint issues is a marketing hype. 99 % plus are MS69 and PF69 as recieved from the mint. Period. A PCGS or NGC label is superfluous. A PF70 or MS70 is absurd compared to a PF69 or MS69.

On the other hand, as a buyer and seller in the online world, TPG grading plays a big part in older more expensive 19th and 20th Century coins.

The difference prices for a certified Morgan dollar from a grade of MS 63 to MS 65 can amount to several thousands of dollars. Some Morgans can be found fairly cheap in AU Grades, but have nutso prices for the very few known MS examples.

As we all cannot attend the major coin shows to see these coins in person, the TPG majors provide a way for most of us to buy and sell with some expectation of reasonable grading.

We all have stories of under and overgrading by the majors. I have a major Morgan, big coin as MS63 that is barely MS61. (PCGS) . I also have a bigger Morgan as PL62 that is PL64. So what. I knew what I was buying when I bought them. Online. Bid accordingly.

Grading is an aspect of collecting bigger $ coins that we need. If you have enough experience with the coins you are collecting, you can grade for yourself. Take your expertise into account when you buy graded coins online or in person.

 

Some of us do....

 

Maybe, maybe not .

To attribute the slabs to newbies or newcomers is just nonsense.

 

I hit all my coins with hammers... Never mind the ones in slabs, that may be worth a fortune, that I may or may not hit the plastic.................

 

ENUF responses to........

nite.......


Bruce

 

I should have realized that the idea of me cracking open a slab by cracking the seal with a hammer would offend some slab collectors as if I just opened the 7th Seal.

What do you think? I have have hammer weilding monkeys running around cracking slabs? Maybe Gallagher and his sledge '0 matic???

Crack the slabs and enjoy your coins.

 

Again, most moderns don't exist above MS-68.

I never see any hype for moderns or ultra-moderns. Everytime I see hype
it's for old US coins. It might not be apparent to you why people are buying
these but it's certainly not hype.

 

slabs

i think slabs are here to stay. they are getting more and more popular,just check out the auction houses,like teletrade,heritage,stacks and others. most everything you see is slabbed. i believe the tpg's have people thinking they are the 'umpires' of the coin industry and so they remain successful. just my two cents.

 

If you have to have a slabbing company to tell you that someone has taken a grinder to your coin,, you have a lot more learning you should do before you spend much money on coins.

No argument there, but you can get similar protection with generic Coin World shells for $1 apiece.

Yes the auction houses love the TPG's. With them they don't have to worry about grading the coins or anything else. Because if you read the terms of sale you'll find that coins in slabs are not returnable foe any reason! If you buy a slabbed coin and you have any problems with it, grade, identity, attribution etc, don't bother the auction house with it, take it up with the grading service.

 

how much can we sell them?.

if we owned a lot of slap coins. how much can we sell them?. let's say the value of this slap coin is $500.00. what will be the a.b.p.?.

 

We've gone over the whole "pro-slab / anti-slab" thing a million times, so no need to revisit that here.

To me, Elaine's OP bears on this idea : Is the preponderence of 69s and 70s grade inflation ? If so, does this call into question the grades on other coins (i.e. non-moderns) ?

My answer to both questions is a resounding NO.

As Doug pointed out earlier, the bullion proofs are very very high grade coins; they deserve high grades (in slab or not).

Grading practices for a modern ASE PR69 DCAM have no bearing on a 1799 Bust Dollar VF35.

 

I think slabs are good for protection and authentication. I miss the PCI graded coins, every now and again you could find a real gem. But because of the constant negative PR by primarily 2 classes of people the price was beaten down to the point you could almost purchase the PCI coin at face or melt. I believe those 2 classes of people are/were; 1. Crack Out artists who wanted the coins for themselves to play the crack out game. 2. People who were gambling their life savings or a good part of them on coins slabbed by companies who offer a registry and could not bear the thought that any competition could exist. I will continue to believe that PCI, in any color holder, out performed ICG.

I believe this statement by Jeff Werlin is " for the ages. "

REGARDING PCI CERTIFIED COINS

PCI grading standard is generally not as strict as that of PCGS or NGC. Accordingly, these coins sell at substantial discounts to the prices of comparable coins from PCGS or NGC. At these reduced prices, they represent excellent values and make cameo set building far more affordable.

PCI supports three levels of cameo designation in order of increasing contrast: Cameo, Deep Cameo, and Ultra Cameo. Within a cameo designation level there is quite a span of contrast from the "just made it" coin up to the coin that "just misses" the next level. Prices on this listing are at or very near fair wholesale values according to the quality of each individual coin.



PCI - PRE WWII CAMEO COINS

Folks, these are very scarce desirable coins but to date, the collector base is tiny because they have hardly been available. Fortunately, the PCI cameo standard is reasonable for the era (unlike PCGS and NGC) which means that for those of you that want the security of 3rd party grading and holder, the supply will support your ability to collect these beauties at least a little bit better than before. Please recognize that in a PCGS holder, the prices would be 10x and more! Thats because almost no coins from this era exist with strong enough cameo contrast for the PCGS overly strict standard. If you want to collect cameos from this era because there is certainly a large jump in eye appeal over their purely brilliant counterparts, PCI certified examples are a great way to go!

 

Have to agree. I've got a grading book put out by NGC and I read in there that modern day coins, especially commems and proofs are made with much more care and the technology has improved to a point where it should be rare to get anything less than a 69, with 70s just as common. Which is what I would expect now and for the future.

 

absolutely!
I remember buying a PCI walking liberty half that was graded MS-64, I was able to pay 60 prices because it was in a PCI slab.

Cracked it out, sent it to NGC and got it back 64
as they always say... buy the coin not the slab.


and back to the topic; the quality of the coinage from a technical standpoint is light years ahead of where we where 50 years ago. its not surprising that modern coins grade out at 69.

I am opposed to grading 70's, that should be "perfection" and perfection is not attainable imo.

 

Well, you may be right. Nothing will ever be perfect down to a microscopic level. But to the point where a coin is as perfect in every aspect as the mint can possibly produce, with the perfect strike and no visible damage of any sort, you need the 70 grade to signify this. It says this is the best possible example that can be made or found. I don't have a problem with it.

 

i still don't trust the grading results from the slabbed companies. and i also don't trust that i have to send it to a dealer and the dealer will send it to the slabbed company.

 

:mouth:

 

You don't have to send 'em to a dealer. You can submit coins yourself, directly to the TPGs. This isn't new; I've done it for years.

NGC: you have submission privileges if you are a paid ANA member :

http://www.ngccoin.com/services/submitting.asp

ANACS: anyone can submit anytime :

http://anacs.com/contentPages/FAQSubmitting.aspx

PCGS: You have to pay to obtain submission privileges (which also grants access to the census data)