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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ertw, post: 124365, member: 4954&quot;]AnemicOak;</p><p><br /></p><p>Because I imagine you can put together a very nice type set with more common dates or mintmarks, why not consider trying to put together a set with raw coins that way you can use the experience of assembling the set to improve your grading skills??&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I mean, sooner or later you&#039;ll have to learn to grade on your own (this will benefit you in the long run in this hobby I believe).&nbsp; This type of a collecting approach IMO has the potential to improve a collector&#039;s grading skills of a certain series and develop a keener eye for grades up in the high AU to lower MS; plus you don&#039;t break the bank on most types in EF to AU (at least in the Canadian series I collect).&nbsp; Of course, if you find yourself in the situation where you have some extra money and you want to buy a pricey coin then make sure your comfortable with the purchase (if that means buying the plastic around the coin and the professional guarantee, then that&#039;s what you should do) but also be comfortable with the price being asked for it and make your own judgements of the grade.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not puttig down TPG&#039;s, lots of people demand there services and I think they provide a necessary service for some transactions (authenticating of coins, buying from online dealers etc...).&nbsp; IMO don&#039;t pay the premium just for someone&#039;s opinion on the grade,...they aren&#039;t infallible.&nbsp; I mean you see 2 coins: 1 raw and 1 graded ...why pay 10, 15, 20 dollars more for the graded one if you know they grade the same?...put the $ toward another coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>I collect Canadian $0.50, 1911-1967 almost all raw except 3 or 4 pieces that I purchased because I thought they were fair prices for the grade.&nbsp; I&#039;m new to collecting (2 1/2 yrs.) and am only speculating as to what is available on the US coin market at what I personally consider &quot;reasonable money&quot; for just as beautiful raw coins as slabbed.&nbsp; Maybe some coins are not market acceptable raw and the only ones you can find are slabbed...I have no clue.</p><p><br /></p><p>Further, any doubt as to whether a coin has been cleaned or not, just pass on it...that&#039;s the nice part of a type set..they&#039;ll be plenty of other examples that will come along to choose from; or if you have the ability to post a pic up here on the site before you have to pay then do so.&nbsp; Seems like a very, very knowledgeable US coin bunch here who seem very happy to always help out.</p><p><br /></p><p>I say read what&#039;s out there on grading, learn what&#039;s unique about grading each series your interested in, and go with nice unslabbed coins.&nbsp; Ultimately up to you though...but whatever you do BTCNTH...been said countless times.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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