I have never had anything graded. I keep a spreadsheet of each coin, and I have marked the ones I think should be graded. Here are some examples. (I have about 75 marked so far.)
Yeah, that's perhaps not the best picture. This is the animation it is part of. I think the surfaces look natural, and it has some delicate toning in the pink range, so I've got my fingers crossed about the color. If I get it graded, I will know if it’s questionable, or recolored, or just that slightly pinkish alloy that sometimes seems to show up in San Francisco. And whether it’s worth what I paid or worth 15,000 more. Edit: @wxcoin , I replaced the photo with one that has more pleasing colors. I think it shows that the coin can still be suspect on color, but also still may have a chance at being OK. When I mentioned that I thought the surfaces seemed original, these die scratches on the left obverse would have been more disturbed by a cleaning, I suspect. Perhaps only a TPG can answer all the questions I have about grade, eye appeal, and originality by examining it in-hand.
And a couple of more Lincolns that really need graded. I see I should just start a new thread, or someone else can, about coins that aren’t graded but might be worth something if they were. Or, that might flop and make the owner wish he never had bothered.
This is a completely natural color for a 20's branch mint. I've seen it over and over for decades. The most pronounced being the 1920-S - all of the red MS examples I've seen in person were just poorly struck with that pinkish color. It seems to me that the more softly struck 20's coins (usually the branch mints) can tone strangely. That said... I can speak from experience, both PCGS and NGC hate this color. There is a high probability of rejection - but 100% that doesn't mean there's something wrong with the coin. It simply means they don't want it in one of their holders because it doesn't meet their standard criteria for toned coins. That's one of most impressive things about Robec's collection - he has some amazing slabbed coins in colors that easily fail with the TPG's every day. I'd give ICG a shot and save some money too. They have a better understanding of copper color than the others IMHO.