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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;coppercoins, post: 564979, member: 152&quot;]I appreciate the welcome Arizona Jack.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sometimes I let my brain go into tangents, which clouds judgement in other areas.&nbsp; I never thought about the kid sending $3 coins in to PCGS theory, nor did I really consider that some people are low budget and like to have their coins in plastic at any cost (whichI still don&#039;t agree with myself, but can understand for others).</p><p><br /></p><p>I am a purist collector at heart.&nbsp; I think for all the good slabs do, they do have their dark side.&nbsp; They have drawn a lot of attention away from the coins themselves - to a point now that many intermediate collectors haven&#039;t a clue how to grade, which is a crying shame.&nbsp; All they know is how much this slab is worth versus that slab, and they feel all-important when they &#039;make&#039; coins (which is a term that sends chills through me every time I have to listen to it).</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyhow, being a purist, if I can complete a series - like the Memorial cents or Jefferson nickels in nice MS65-MS66 grade for $100, maybe $200 - by carefully selecting the coins from dealers, rolls, or circulation, I see that as fun, educational, and completely supporting collecting the way it should be.&nbsp; When someone REFUSES to buy a $5 coin to fill a hole in their collection because it&#039;s not in a slab, I just want to slap them into reality and ask them if they REALLY want to collect coins...because the holder is irrelavent, and they are placing more importance in the holder than the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>I mean really...you HAVE to know the group I am referring to - the ones who would buy and collect graded pocket lint if there was a market for it, because the coins are not the important part - having a high grade label is all the rage!!&nbsp; And here we come around to the &#039;makers&#039; - the people who submit huge piles of coins and toss a big check at the graders to &#039;make&#039; a few $500 coins with the knowledge that 95% of what they get back is going to be worth less than the cost of slabbing the coin.&nbsp; Most of this happens for one of two reasons - either the &#039;maker&#039; doesn&#039;t have a clue how to grade or is too lazy to spend the time to do it.&nbsp; Either way, it&#039;s all a game, and the ONLY winner is the slabbing company.&nbsp; Meanwhile we are left with hundreds of thousands of virtually worthless coins in these plastic holders that sell for five times what they would sell for without the plastic.&nbsp; Really...if this 1955S cent were cracked out of the PCGS MS65 slab today, by tomorrow it would be flipped into a 2x2, labeled as ChBu and stuck in a dealers row box for $5 along with all the other &quot;raw&quot; coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now ask yourself...if a person really just wanted the coin and truly cared about the coins, why would they pay $10-$15 extra JUST for the holder?</p><p><br /></p><p>So I guess my first post should have been to ask the OP what the reason for buying the slab was in the first place...was it just to have the slab, or was it because he really thought an MS65 quality 1955S cent was really worth that much.&nbsp; If the former, by ALL MEANS...$12 is cheap for ANY PCGS slab...have at it and good luck collecting!&nbsp; If the latter, however, all the rest of what I posted above applies and is completely correct.</p><p><br /></p><p>So my apologies to the OP (that would be &quot;original poster&quot; for the abbreviation challenged) for not having the sensitivity to actually ASK why you were interested in this particular item.&nbsp; All I had in mind was that $12 is way too much for any average GEM grade 1955S cent, and I wanted to protect you from what I believe to be an overpriced market.&nbsp; But if you are really into slabs, you would be doing yourself well buying ANY PCGS slabbed coin for less than $15 with the shipping.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope my blather in this manifesto really explained my position better than I was able to yesterday.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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