Received some common Morgans today in MS64 and MS65. Nothing spectacualr but as with Teletrade and most other places it seems that at least 75% of the time the cases are scratched, or the little stacking corners are bashed off. Why bother to slab these if you're going to trash them? I know the PCGS cases have a poor design where if you stack two dollar sized cases the centers will touch, but for them to scratch you'd have to throw sand in between them. ARRGH. Does anyone else find this annoying?
Ive very nearly sent stuff back over bad condition slabs. I agree it is annoying. People sure are hard on them. Makes you wonder what would happen to the coin if it wasnt in the slab.
My experience was generally good with Teletrade, been awhile since I've won an auction there. I'd be displeased with a heavily scratched but pretty much expect handled slabs are going to have some hairlines.
I've bought 3 items off teletrade, all have been scratch-free...I'm sure they can work with you if you contact them..
I'll let kirkuleez speak for himself but my reason would be to resubmit them for a higher grade. Older PCGS, ANACS and NGC holders at times bear now undergraded coins, given the more conservative approach in the 80's when TPG really started to take off. So far I'm batting .500.
I like to collect the entire series of coins. I put them in Danscos and don't have much intention of selling them. Personally, I wish that the old Photograde was still the standard TPG. That way I could have certified raw coins.
I am not sure what their policy is on scratched slabs, but when I won a lot a few years ago with a small crack in it no where close to the coin they had it reholdered for me. I just contacted Irma and she took care of it, paying shipping both ways. Again, this was for a cracked slab but it may be worth letting them know of your dissatisfaction and see what they are willing to do for you. TC
You're right. The ones to keep an eye out for are the MS60s in the really old slabs. I bought a PCGS MS60 $5 Liberty in a real old slab, that looked awesome. I submitted it to NGC at a show for grade review and re-holder. It came back a MS-62. I was almost expecting it to be a 63.
You should another option in your poll for people who crack the slabs and remove the coins so it doesn't matter what condition the slab is in anyway. That's my vote.