Help with TPG Decision

@Cherd, I think you will find it cheaper and less aggravating to buy coins that have already been certified. The selection of raw, no problem U.S. coins was not great when I was a dealer 20 years ago. It has to be less now.

Higher grading fees, plus the postage both ways would put a big hole in your $200 to $300 price per coin guidelines. Postage costs have gone through the roof. I sent a large check to a dealer after an auction via Priority Mail to make sure it got there. It cost $10, and it failed to get to the dealer within the three day window that was promised.

I would stick to coins that have already been graded if you need to buy those types.

 

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Submitting is work and it's expensive. I've done it many times. From filling out the online forms, making sure you didn't miss any boxes, printing the 5 sheets, figuring out which sheets go and which is yours. Getting them in 2x2 slips and labeling each one. Packaging. Finding the right shipping address. (USPS = PO Box address, FedEx/UPS = a different ship address), then sweat it out for the 2 to 3 days for them to receive your box.
Once it's received you can use your tracking # on the website to make sure they have it. Once they accept it, it does NOT mean they're actually opening it!
It will sit there in line for a while. Could be days, could be weeks depending on the back log.

Eventually they open it up, enter your coins in and charge your card. The actual grading might happen a week or two later. Then it sits in finalizing for a while. Eventually you'll be able to see what your grades are online. Its a costly process that lasts about a month. Turn around times are "only" 20 days at the moment which is better than the 57 days it was in 2021 when the Morgans were dropping.
This doesn't even address if you end up getting details grades on half your stuff and the disappointment that comes along with that. I'd say I have about a 75% success rate.

Its amusing that if you ever go to sell or trade a scarcer (think rare coppers) graded, cleaned coin, the dealers often scoff at it or they say, "I can't sell that" trying to get it cheap. Then I look at a local dealer's list of coins for sale and 80% are graded cleaned/details coins that they're charging full retail for. Likely a cash cow they take advantage of.

It is an education though. When you get a details coins back it forces you to pay more attention to what you missed. You will learn if you want to. Unfortunately once you know, you will pass on almost everything you see because there are so many issues to look for. Almost nothing loose has not been messed with over the years.
Here's one for you. I submitted this one with another batch just for fun to see what it would get. I was guessing MS-62, maybe even a 63. Strong strike, all the details are there!




Nope! This is an AU Details whizzed coin. You can maybe see the fine lines between the buffaloes legs. Under the loupe you can barely make them out. Whatever they used was really good, just don't know why it needed to be whizzed. Good learning tool. I kept it. Now imagine this coin in an ebay auction with crappy pictures. Are people going to pay AU details price for this as a loose coin? This one was particularly tough to spot although it seems obvious to everyone now with the facts laid out after it's all said and done.

 

Here's a half dime I took a chance on. Not an overly expensive coin. It came back AU-58. I loved the look of it.



This I picked up in an ICG slab and cracked out. They graded it a MS-64BN and NGC called it a MS-64BN as well. Completely agreed with the grade.




This arrows dime is a tougher one to find in decent condition. I picked it up raw. The pics I had to go by were a tiny fraction of my pics here. I thought it had a chance because of the toning.... No. This got AU details cleaned.
In hand you want to look for cartwheel luster for it to have a chance of being naturally shiny. If it's just plain shiny with no cartwheel luster, you can safely assume it's been cleaned. Often difficult to tell from pics.

 

Here's my two cent I was telling you about if you'd like to compare it to yours. I got this on ebay probably around 2010 or so. Think I gave $240 for it. Sent it in and it came back a MS65 RB. Books for around $550 now which is down from where it was a couple years ago.
This is just a few examples of what you can do. I'll have a couple more for you in about month, win or lose. You have to be really picky and have a little luck if you want to play that game. I really try to avoid it and just get already slabbed coins. You pay full price but way less fooling around. Sometimes I just spot stuff and try it for entertainment purposes. It's not a sound financial strategy anymore. The cost to grade keeps going up with everything else in life.

 

Ah, what's one more? (I'm off today.) This was a good one. Was at a show long time ago around when I first started collecting. This was in an old PCGS slab with green label. Grade was MS-60. It has booming luster. I'm like c'mon, this is a MS-63 all day long!

Submitted it in person at an ANA World's Fair and NGC graded it on site. Picked it up the next day in an NGC MS-62 slab. (I know they wanted to go 63.) Old slabs are good prospects. Always keep an eye on them.