Is ANACS crazy, or am I crazy?

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Funnily enough, I've been working with a buyer in MN for about 6 months now. He had a pretty complete collection of raw U.S. type coins. Almost every date of every type. Then he decided he wanted graded ones only... So basically he wanted to grade every coin he had. When he sent in the first few batches, and only about 8-10% of them straight graded, he decided to start over and only buy certified coins from eBay and GC and Heritage. Cost him a fortune, but he didn't care. The raw coins he used to cherish were suddenly useless to him. So he spends and spends and spends, top dollar for every date of every type. All he wants when he dies is a legacy of a (mostly) complete certified collection. All he wants is problem-free slabs. He values their opinions and their assigned values over his own.

 

Why is it odd that those who are beginners or lack knowledge to successfully buy coins raw without getting killed are the ones sustaining companies who, whether full of faults or not, help them safely buy coins without that threat?

 

Even if this coin comes back from PCGS in a details holder, I may very well still consider it market acceptable. I'll probably stop sending it in, however, (this is the only time I have submitted it).
Much of the time even when NGC or PCGS calls one of my coins a details coin, I still disagree with them. But occasionally their opinion convinces me, so it's still an educational experience. Once I sent in a bust half that I considered AU50. They called it XF details cleaned. After mulling it over and taking more time to inspect it, I could see trace evidence of a past cleaning. So I chalked that one up to a lesson and sold it for a loss of about $200, After grading fees etc.

 

I have found that much of the time when ANY TPGS "details" a coin, the submitter will disagree with them. IMO, 99.99% of the time it is because the submitter does not know how to examine a coin properly. My favorite goes like this..."I've been a dealer for fifty years..."

IMO, "details" slabs provide a great learning experience. Much better than the old days when the coin was just not slabbed. Better than that is to take the ANA Seminar on "Problem Coins." They use NGC slabs showing most of the "no grade" problems.

 

edit: I misread your first few sentences. I disagree and think there is a large percentage of the community who can't successfully buy coins raw. I'm one of them but hope to eventually improve enough to not be. I think TPGs fill that need in the market very well.

You like to view this as a negative in a "unsuspecting buyers are purchasing misgraded coins" way.

Take off your 50 years of experience shoes for a second and put on my, and millions of others, limited experience but interested in coins shoes. After buying nothing but dreck raw for my first few months I would have quit if not for TPGs. The positive aspects they provide so far outweigh the inconsistencies they may have in grading. I'm confident in a few areas now but recently have fallen in love with type collecting. It's sure nice to be able to confidently purchase a capped bust dime that I know nothing about without having to worry about anything more than the fact that my MS63 maybe should be a 62 or 58 or lightly cleaned in the past. That is beyond a secondary worry to me and that probably drives you, again with decades of experience, crazy but try and understand my perspective.

 

Huh, Ill have to make them fix some of my coins then.

 

Results are in. 1908-S/S PCGS MS64 BN FS-501 RPM.

Wow... from ANACS AU55 details to PCGS MS64!

 

Wow!!! Now imagine if you had just listened to ANACS and sold it as a problem coin. This just goes to show you that ANACS is being a lot more conservative than what their reputation is. There are certainly some good deals to be found in those yellow holders. You just have to follow the motto of "Buy the coin and not the holder".

 

That's nuts. I think I will only be sending D. Carr pieces to ANACS anymore. My last gold submission was TERRIBLE. Out of about 15 coins, they only straight graded like 3 I think, and I hardly ever get "cleaned" from pcgs and ngc, as I've gotten decent at weeding them out.

 

It's tied with 1 other for the finest known BN. There are 3 in 64 RB, however.

 

Doug is going to blow a gasket...
@GDJMSP

 

Don't tell PCGS or they'll come back and tell you this one was a "mechanical error"

But seriously nice find and congrats for looking at the coin and not the holder!

 

ANACS does seem to struggle with some series, but scanning around the market it seems they don't see a whole lot of better classic coins and certainly no where near as many as PCGS or NGC do

 

Rick Snow has a 64RB one for sale for $1961.00 obo. Wonder what I can price mine at? $1000? PCGS price guide is $600. Lol

 

Apparently the experts at PCGS disagree. Strongly.

That is what makes this hobby . . . a hobby.

 

You know, I had planned on doing this when I bought it, because $78 was dirt cheap for a AU55 details. And I figured I could flip it for $150 as it was, in that holder. But when I got it in hand, I knew what I had.