Heritage Roman Pickups - Two Æ follis

=> I agree 100% ... I have sent over 50 of my coins to Daid Sear for authentication (all but one of them was given his a-okay) ... and the one coin that was determined to be a forgery had a happy enough ending, for my favourite seller apologized and immediately reimbursed me for his mistake => all's well, that ends well (I'll only order from sellers who'll give me this sweet guarantee)

NOTE => Z444, please don't get me wrong => I absolutely love your coin choices (they're all winners) ... but buying a coin in a plastic case is a bit like ordering a mail-order bride, rather than courting your sweetheart and both falling in love => the end result is the same, but the whole process seems a bit less gratifying, ya know?

 

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If I had the money, yes. Because if I cannot hold a coin, then I have no interest in owning it......
The thought of encapsulation to sell intrigues me.... why bother? Coins of such a high value will be sold through a reputable dealer or auction house...The guarantee of authenticity becomes theirs....

 

I wish it were true. Compare slabbed prices on Heritage/Stacks to raw comparable pieces. People discount the "unknown". A few bad sellers ruin it for many, including myself. I point to a highly reputable mid-west dealer who grades EVERYTHING as mint state.

 

To me its economics. Same as buying a rated bond vs. none rated bond. The rated bond is perceived to be safer (whether right or wrong) the unrated is much riskier and people discount prices when purchasing it.

If your average spend per coin is relatively low, the cost of an error is whether grade or authenticity. If the coin is pricey, the margin of error on both counts is significant. Now if my "mail order bride" is high maintenance with very expensive taste, I better make sure she is what I think she is.

The offsetting factor is "pedigree" - a known collector/collection coin needs no slabbing as its "confirmed" already.

The more funds one has in the hobby, the more one needs to think of a future sale as well. Not sure if everyone here is thinking about this aspect beyond the enjoyable part of handling the coins.

 

Luckily Z, I'm not in it for the resale cash (good thing too, because it's probably gonna be pretty hard for my wife and/or my nephew to unload this many fricken animal-coins, eh?!!)

Good discussion-points, brother ... however, I am still a big fan of ordering my unencapsulated coins from trusted dealers who'll refund my cash if any problems ever arise (but I promise that I'm still a firm-supporter of the amazing Z444 collection)

 

Steve - fair enough and I too see the various points made. I am not passionate about the plastic at all, its the value preservation. Perhaps a David Sear level numismatist certification/grading with an image is a compromise for such need. A "for profit" dealer can not be fully objective in my opinion as the grading arbitrage is too tempting.

 

I never even notice the "grading letters, or numbers" that several of the sellers jot-down in their coin descriptions => I am only interested in posing coins of a certain type against each other to determine a reasonable price

 

This has been an interesting thread to read, but Steve really took the words out of my mouth with this last statement:

When I first started collecting ancients I would compare the seller's grading of a coin against what I objectively thought it should be, but now I honestly don't even notice or care if it's described as an EF, VF, F, or whatever is stated on a slab.

Nevertheless, I don't see why the market (and community) can't support buyers who don't give a hoot about grading as well as those who do, those who hate slabs and those who prefer it. And for the record, personally I think Zohar's collection is a testament to his keen eye for beautiful coins rather than NGC's.

 

zumbly - thank you for the kind words. I along with others here buy the coin first and foremost for the coin appeal regardless of slab #s, but have the slab as "another validation" to substantiate purchase/resale value to avoid having me/wife discuss relative grading with a dealer. If the world was fully transparent you wouldn't need S&P, Moody's, NGC or PCGS.

Let's wrap up the thread as I believe we have truly looked at all angles. I appreciate the commentary and different perspectives.

Enjoy the weekend!