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Message:: [QUOTE="Detecto92, post: 1594732, member: 75105"]For a coin collector, there are two options of collecting coins. You can either collect them raw, or you can collect them slabbed. Of course the two both present their pros and cons. Raw coins are cheaper than slabbed coins, for the most part. However for some people, they can go to a local auction house and see coins in person. For others, there may not be any auctions in the area that have a quality selection of coins without making a considerable drive, and even then, the cost of gas alone may make the trip a waste of money. Now if you do buy raw on eBay, everything resides in the photo. The click of the mouse on "buy it now" is a decision made entirely by the photo. But quite a few, not all, but quite a few sellers take poor photos of coins. With a poor photo, you can't see the hairlines to tell if it's been cleaned, in fact a poor photo hides a lot of things. Even if the coin is problem free, and has a poor photo, you will probably not buy it, so you don't run the risk of getting a cleaned coin. Some sellers on eBay flat out lie, stating that a coin is "original" or "problem free", but it's up to you to decide, and yes, I've seen plenty of "problem free" coins that look like they were cleaned with a wire brush and put through a meat grinder. Now we bring a slabbed coin to the table, and when I mean slabbed, I mean by a reputable company like PCGS, NGC, or ANACS, not a fly-by-night basement slabber. If we look at the numbers, PCGS has slabbed over 25.1 million coins, and I'm guessing NGC, another 19 million, and 10 million with anacs. So by rough guess there is probably 55 million coins currently entombed in plastic. Although that doesn't seem like a lot, it's all about perspective. If a dealer, or a collector, doesn't think a coin will be slabbed, due to cleaning, gouges, or deep scratches, it won't be. Although damaged coins do get slabbed, So the damaged coin gets sold, on eBay, at a local auction, or with another venue. So with so many coins in slabs, it makes you wonder "Just how many raw coins with problems make up the amount of coins on eBay, or other venues?" Well for modern coins, let's say 1940 to present, the cost of slabbing generally isn't worth it, unless it has a value over $50. So many modern coins still exist in the raw. Coins like mercury dimes, Franklin half dollars, and the like. So when you buy raw on eBay, and stick with modern, you have a pretty good chance of getting a problem free coin. But with older coins, the chances start to decrease, the older the coin is. There is a reason coins get slabbed. The difference between two grades could be several hundred dollars, so if a coin lies between VF-35 and XF-40, if it comes back XF-40, then you can say it's XF-40, and sell it for XF-40 money. With a raw coin, several people may think it's a different grade, and the coin won't realize it's value. So slabbing a coin does help it's value, and it can bring you more money, depending on the cost you acquired it for. Not only that, when it does come time to sell, if you don't have a good camera, then a poor photo may not allow the coin to sell for much. However with a slabbed coin, a poor photo will hurt the sale, but not as much. This is because people know the grade, and know it's [usually] problem free. The reason why I typically buy slabbed on eBay, if it's a $60+ dollar coin, is because if the seller took a poor photo, I can trust the TPG that the coin in the holder is problem free, if labeled so. So as a coin collector, the choice is yours. You can buy in the raw, and save money, or you can spend a little more for a slabbed coin. Of course, for modern coins, there are many times where buying slabbed isn't worth it.[/QUOTE]

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