I'm a fairly new and inexperienced collector with a small collection of silver, gold and platinum Eagles, along with some other coins. I have been told by a dealer that I shouldn't bother with grading Eagles. I've also seen some postings on CoinTalk that grading Eagles is a waste of money. But when I go to a number of auction sites to see prices, virtually all gold and platinum Eagles are graded, while some silvers are graded and others aren't. So when the experts say don't grade Eagles, do they mean don't grade any Eagle, or do they mean don't grade the silvers because their low price doesn't make grading worth the cost? If they mean don't grade any Eagle, then am I putting myself at a disadvantage when I try to sell an ungraded gold Eagle against 20 more that are graded PR70? Just trying to get unconfused.
The coin dealer is correct that you shouldn't bother grading ASEs in the sense that you shouldn't pay for the grading fee. That said, there is nothing wrong with buying ASEs that have already been graded by someone else. Yes, when you go to sell raw ASEs you will get less than someone selling graded 70s, but on the other hand you won't pay the premium going in. Personally, I normally purchase raw ASEs and put a few of the best of them that I think may be 70s into airtites. I have also purchased ASEs slabbed by TPGs when the premium was small, but I stay away from 70s because the difference between a 69 and a 70 just isn't worth the price.
I think it is an issue of coin vs. bullion investing. A bullion investor wants an ounce of gold and really doesn't care what form it is in. A coin investor wants a nice looking or rare coin more than the silver. Many people are obviously a hybrid of both, but unless your coins are rare there is really no reason getting graded. There are millions of ASEs produced every year, so grading a run of the mill ASE is pretty much worthless.
OK on the ASEs Thanks for the feedback. I'll stay away from grading ASEs. What are your thoughts about grading gold and platinum Eagles? I also should have mentioned that these are proofs and not uncirculated. I know the mintage of ASE proofs is still in the hundreds of thousands each year, so that probably doesn't make much of a difference.
I have a half gold eagle as well as a Platinum half eagle both are graded by PCGS but both coins have the "W" mint mark on them. I understand all these coins with the "W" mint mark were made for collectors and not just bullion. I myself wouldn't bother slabbing any gold ,silver, or platinum coin without the "W" mint mark. JMO
Suppose you knew that the so called numismatic value of these coins has been steadily going down for the past 8 years or so. Would you still question whether it was wise to slab them ?
Sometimes you can buy graded bullion coins for much less than it costs to have them graded yourself and only a couple of dollars more than raw. That's about the only way it makes sense to me to buy graded bullion.
The only bullion type coin I have graded is the Silver AME proof. that so I can have a compete set of 1986-??? Pr-69's
I have never really seen the point of grading any of the eagles...silver, gold, or platinum. The reason is you are asking the grading companies to give you an assessment of the coin. These coins are design from day 1 to be very high grade. It's assumed that an ASE, AGE, or APE will be a minimum of MS68 (and usually a MS69) out of the box. So, why pay someone to tell you that. TPGs have their place with coins made for circulation...but IMHO having these slabbed are a waste of money. If you want to buy them slabbed, that's fine...but don't pay more for the slabbed coin than you would for a raw one because the quality is the same.
Sounds pretty clear that I shouldn't grade any of them. It will be interesting to try selling a few in an auction where all the others are graded and find out if I can get a similar price as the others. Thanks for the feedback!
Remember that when you do you need to calculate the cost of the slab into it as well. For example, if a MS69 graded ASE sells for $10 more than your coin...but you saved a $30 grading fee, you still came out ahead.
If you currently have, ever do buy or send out for grading any bullion ASEs, you will be waiting a very long time or until the ASE program is canceled or something about the program radically changed in order to ever see slabbed bullion ASEs resell for anything significantly more than raw bullion ASEs. If you buy them slabbed do not pay inflated costs for them. There's no point. If you can get them for the same price as raw or less than a graded fee would cost, then maybe the purchase is worth the extra money spent since silver will likely continue to rise enough to recoup a little higher premium spent. However, in most of our life times having bullion ASEs graded will likely never be profitable nor worth our time and money to do. A 100+ years may need to pass before slabbed bullion ASEs could sell for anything more than bullion value. Consider low MS grade Morgans in slabs, how old they are and current value over melt, not much return over time. I do think that the bullion ASE coins will eventually enter the numismatic realm after the program ends, and eventually, the program will end. Likewise peoples strong opinions now about not grading bullion ASEs are only good for saving you money now but are short sighted to consider the years of abuse that raw bullion coins will have to avoid being un-protected by encapsulation, especially slabs with grading guarantees, raw coins facing melt or if ever recalled by an executive order (I doubt that though) how the mintage figures will be less to go by for value with a lower census. There may be a higher survival rate of those bullion graded should they have perceived numismatic value/treatment and may manage to escape melt, recall, counterfeit, and other imaginable factors over a very long time in existence. Only at that much later date could they potentially yield value above where only bullion value is seen, realised and admonished today. I just posting to say, consider the ASE program will end someday, enjoy what you have now and don't forget future potential in such items long after you are gone even though it's not you who will benefit from that potential. Buy them raw and if you want them protected get AirTites or some such encapsulation device to admire them in. Don't over pay, but if you find graded bullion ASEs for a little over spot / less than what grading fees would cost, then that's cheap enough to buy as a graded coin.
