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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;andyluw12, post: 1276896, member: 31552&quot;]Sometimes Third Party Grading (TPGs) companies will offer a deal for becoming a member, such as NGC will grade 5 coins &quot;free&quot; with a higher-level paid membership...but either way you&#039;ve paid $$. It all boils down to it&#039;s only a deal if you will continue to use the services that the paid membership offers you. And as Chris said, be sure the coin(s) are worth having graded by using reputable sources. Websites like NGC will allow you to join for free, and you can check current values for coins and conditions, but without a basic understanding of what to look for (this is where a Red Book comes in handy-just don&#039;t take the values as gospel) you won&#039;t be able to judge the condition to look up the value. </p><p><br /></p><p>My humble advice is, get a RedBook as well as other coin publications, including periodicals and do your homework. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, and then RESEARCH SOME MORE...once you feel comfortable with the basics of what to look for on one denomination, learn key dates, varieties, etc...and then take another look at the points to look at for wear, doubling, etc and practice grading them yourself against graded or attributed coins on this site and see if you are getting a correct estimate against a known value. The more you learn to self-grade, the more you will see that coins that you once considered sending for grading are not worth the extra expense and you may begin seeking better quality coins&nbsp; (if you prefer to collect graded coins) and you will be less likely to spend too much for a coin that has been slabbed that&#039;s up for grabs on ebay. </p><p><br /></p><p>Good luck collecting, and don&#039;t worry about grading just yet-just have fun <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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