Grade Wars- Attack of the Slabs

Maybe we would all feel better about slabing if NGC would show us some special edition slab tags. Just like they have Snowmen tags for Bullion coins, and Wyatt Earp tags for modern American Silver Eagles, imagine how much better we would all feel to have Alexander III limited edition slab tag on our Roman coins (even though it has nothing to do with the Roman Empire.) Maybe the Home Shopping Network can round a few dozen denarii and put Rudolph the red nosed raindeer special edition NGC tags on the slabs. I bet we would all be running for joy, paying 50% premiums so we could collect the tags on the slabs.

 

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It's my understanding that "darkside" refers to foreign coins. I don't collect foreign coins. I didn't realize that ancient collectors were Kool-Aid drinkers.

Chris

It wasn't me who broached the subject. Blame it on one of your compatriots!

Chris

 

I guess you sip yours? Served in a chilled slab perhaps? Sounds delish.

 

My vote goes to 4to2centBC and I applaud the delightful arguments raised.

 

Edict of Minimum Collectors

Any collector found buying the slab and not the coin will be subject to a lashing of the same number as Sheldon points of the slab in question.

Any collector found ragging on ancient burial deposit shall be imprisoned for no less than 2 cycles of Venus.

Any collector found hoarding coins less than 500 years can be enslaved and made clean Morgan dollars.

Any collector found removing an ancient patina will be banished.

Any collector found selling ancients for moderns will be crucified.

 

Seems fair.

 

One of the reasons I buy slabbed US coins is that someone who is more experienced than me has checked to see if it is real. I don't collect ancients. But if NGC won't guarantee authenticity, what is the point of spending 50 bucks on a grade that might not be worth the powder to blow it to Hades?

 

People who care about the precise mark out of 70 that a coin "deserves" - or whether an "S" is big or small - should probably get professional help for their Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

 

Can't you learn how to grade a coin for yourself?

You shouldn't need a slab and a mark out of 70 to tell you whether you should like a coin or not.

 

I do grade them myself when I decide whether the stated grade is low or high for my own interpretation of the coin. Graded and slabbed is not necessarily something I do for myself but for heirs who may get stuck with selling them on down the line.

 

And that is precisely the problem with American coin collectors today. It's all become about an endless obsession to upgrade to get the highest point possible in the 70 point scale, an obsession with the price of the coin, the slightest meaningless variation, and most importantly the slab itself. It is no longer about simply buying a coin because you like it, but rather about buying the best investment possible. And whenever you have a chance, look up how many posts there are on scratches on the plastic slab and how to deal with them, how to protect your slab, and whether there should be plastic shields or a slab to encase a slab. It's all quite sad, it's all become about the slab, commodity trading, and grade of the coins. It is no longer about the coin itself, its beauty, the art on the coin, etc

 

So the grade stated on the slab isn't even reliable? Please don't take offence, but is the 'slab culture' that infects some modern collectors really a case of the emperor's new clothes?

 

Like I said - it's an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. No different to, and possibly just as financially destructive as a gambling addiction.

 

I can tell you and I aren't going to get along worth Jack. So, you have earned yourself a place on my ignore list Edit - Rules...

 

Man-0-man I remember when you ancient guys used to stay in the cellar and never come out of hiding........I blame that SteveX fellow for uniting you all. Shoot. Of late, it seems like there are more postings by you guys than the US guys. It seems you folks are poised to take over the forum........

Now to the subject at hand. Slabs. When I first joined this forum way back in 2007 my opinion was such that I believed slabs to be nothing more than a way to make rarities out of otherwise common coins. That may be the case with modern coins, as many modern collectors prize that elusive '70 grade. And while I don't collect coins solely based on grade I do enjoy the comfort of knowing that the coins that I've bought (slabbed) are genuine and protected within that coffin. And also that my heirs, when time comes to sell, will have an easier time liquidating my holdings.

The coins I buy from the mint (US) are also in a plastic packaging and some of them are busted out and liberated for a short duration before they're entombed in an album or 2x2. I'm not obsesed with '70's on moderns as most would come back between '68 or '69. On my commemorative collection I'm a little more particular. I like the fact that the coins are protected and that I agree with the grade on the slab.

 

These ancient coins are some kind of "disorder" I have seen people pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a single coin weighing a fraction, of a fraction of a gram of silver and that silver maybe 97 % pure at best. Many of us stand and applaud the act. There are ancient collectors here who waste good money, on REALLY crappy coins from places most have never heard of. There is some reason for this?

There are people who have spent a good portion of there life trying to get all those Caesars the countless hours that went into personal research and the OT hours put in to get the one person who ruled for a month. Surely this man's VF Otho is better than his buddies 71' 3D4KHD Super TV. Surely TV guy would wonder why, Otho is not nearly as cool. He would ask that collector what Otho does to or for him that he would rather own that then the best TV? Seems crazy 4g of mostly silver that's old (rocks are old.)

Admittedly, my wife said, "Why don't we help one of those children" (save the children commercial was on) instead of buying that coin with whats left in your paypal, Later that night I bought the coin, went to bed and felt sick to my stomach. Yet here I am.

 

Everybody collect the way you want to collect in the way that suits your budget and makes you the happiest. That's what a hobby is supposed to be about..

 

Look, I could care less what the guy next to me has, as well as what the neighbors have. If you want to play that game you'll never be happy.......

 

Do both. I do. Fewer coins, but my stomach does not hurt.