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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;JCro57, post: 8060550, member: 92083&quot;]For the life of me, I honestly don&#039;t understand why so many people ask this question. Here are some points to ponder if you find yourself asking it.</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Do you know what the error type (or types) is and what diagnostics the error type should feature? (Or error<b><u>s</u></b> as many have more than one.) If you don&#039;t know, why are you sending it in? Do you really have $60-$80 to waste? Chances are, collectors who really don&#039;t know or study error types often just submit coins that are just damaged/altered.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. Do you even know if it&#039;s genuine? If not, why pay $60-$80 for someone else to tell you that information? (And on top of that, wait several months for the answer.) There are experts you can ask, including myself and many others in this forum. (Don&#039;t ask your local coin shop dealer. Chances are despite their so-called &quot;confidence&quot; and &quot;expertise,&quot; they very likely have absolutely no idea.) And if you don&#039;t like our answers, then why are you here, and why did you ask? If you want someone who will do nothing but praise you and tell you how smart you are, then just ask your mother.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. If you already know what the error is, again, why are you sending it in? Why do you want to pay $60-$80 for someone to tell you what you already know? Save that money and buy more coins, or better yet - buy some books.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. Be prepared to eat the grading fees. Don&#039;t think for 1 second a smart collector is going to cover your grading fees when you go to sell it. Only an idiot would pay $120 for a $40 coin, or $300 for a $220 coin, just because it is entombed in a clear plastic coffin with a paper headstone. You want to pay for that service? Expect to eat the cost or lie about it&#039;s value to a foolish collector.</p><p><br /></p><p>5. Do you even know the approximate value of your error coin if it even is genuine? Why send in a coin if it is worth less, equal to, or only slightly more than the cost of sending it to a grading company (around $60-$80)? The fact that so many people send in coins worth less than $100 is mind-boggling. Why throw away your money? As I said already, save your money and buy more coins, or better yet, <b>buy some books to educate yourself</b> or read some <b>online error pages</b> on the web (most of which are free!)</p><p><br /></p><p>6. With Mint errors, be prepared that your attribution might be incorrect or partially incorrect. (A friend of mine in Buffalo collects error coins <i>with the wrong error type on the label</i>; he has over 60.) Or your description might be way too general (&quot;defective planchet&quot; instead of &quot;blow hole&quot;) and not be as satisfying as you&#039;d like.</p><p><br /></p><p>7. Another issue is that all the error types might not even fit on the label. For example, look at the coin below. There is no way everything would fit on a label, and for some people, because it isn&#039;t on there then it leaves room for doubt to an uneducated buyer who might say you are &quot;lying to inflate the value.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin below is:</p><p>1. Broadstruck</p><p>2. Double struck with a 50% rotation.</p><p>3. The 2nd strike is Off-center by about 50%.</p><p>4. There are multiple clashed dies.</p><p>5. The clashed dies, however, are only on the first strike. This means the second strike came from a different die pairing.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1397061[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1397060[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>How the heck can that all fit on a label? I certainly wouldn&#039;t want anything missing from it as all those factors help increase it&#039;s value.</p><p><br /></p><p>8. Coins in slabs are more of a pain to store, and they scratch easily which can ruin the enjoyment of looking at them. And scratch-proof holders have other issues that make them undesirable.</p><p><br /></p><p>9. Sometimes (and I have no idea why they do this and why they don&#039;t think it is a problem), the <b>date and/or mintmark</b> - the <b>most important thing</b> error collectors want to see on a coin - <b>is hidden</b>! For example, PCGS and NGC have prong inserts that hold the coin, yet I have several coins where in doing so the date/mintmark is hidden or partially obstructed...<u><i><b>WHY??? Are you KIDDING ME???</b></i></u></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1397066[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1397067[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>10. I submit coins to grading for only FIVE reasons.</p><p>a. I want the provenance or archived collection printed on the label, because where it came from matters.</p><p>b. I want the coin conserved.</p><p>c. I found a &quot;Discovery&quot; coin.</p><p>d. The coin will likely fetch a heck of a lot of money if I list if for sale, like at an auction (over $2,000), and certifying it as genuine and undamaged will attract more serious buyers.</p><p>e. I want fakes/altered coins slabbed by ICG for use in seminars.</p><p><br /></p><p>Other than that, I highly recommend you just keep them in a paper 2x2 or a non PVC plastic holder. Your wallet will thank me later.</p><p><br /></p><p>~Joe Cronin[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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