Raw coins vs graded encapsulated

Third party grading provides protection for the coin, opinion on grade, and assurances of authenticity.

Prior to third party grading, many people selling coins were taken advantage of by unscrupulous dealers who would low ball the seller. I remember those days. A "beautiful coin" when sold by the dealer. And, the same coin, a "piece of garbage" when selling it back to the same dealer.

Third party grading evened the playing field for both buyers and sellers.

I have been collecting coins for well over 50 years, and I am far from an expert at grading, detecting cleaning, authenticity verification, etc.

Although the grading is an opinion, it gives the parties involved in a coin transaction a good and fair starting point.

I will buy common, inexpensive coins raw.

However, my key coins are all third party graded.

I would not even consider buying an expensive, frequently counterfeited coin that was not certified.

If I see a coin that is worth a large amount of money and is frequently altered or counterfeited,that has not been certified, I wonder why. What is wrong with the coin?

Also, when I drop a slab, I do not have to worry about rim dings or other damage. Or, some un-knowledgable person "fat fingering" my coins, and leaving fingerprints on it.

I am not an investor. However, when my heirs, who know or care nothing about my coins, go to sell my expensive coins, I do not want them to get ripped off. They can at least plug in the certification number and get a ball park figure on a fair price.

Good luck selling your raw coins.

The above is just my opinion.

 

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Most of the better quality trade dollar fakes I have seen, have a weight within acceptable tolerances.

 

Chinese manufacturers like Big Tree Mint were perfecting their counterfeit Morgans more than 15 years ago, and IIRC, it was someone like Laura Sperber (I think) who intentionally shopped some known counterfeits around one of the major shows and fooled many of the dealers who specialized in Morgan dollars. I can think of no better reason why I wouldn't want my collection to be certified. ~ Chris

 

Thank you for your opinion, and I tend to agree with you, but I was wondering more about, say, coins sent to Wexler's or to someone else for attribution other than a grading company. Wouldn't a letter from them concerning the coin suffice as proof of authenticity?

 

There's no way to actually tie a letter to a coin. It's like when people are like well I saved the label showing it's real, no you have a coin and a label. Without the slab sealing it you can do switches.

 

What if you have a photograph of the coin in the slab with the label?

 

Would still mean very little to me. You could very likely match most coins with a good photo, but that still doesn't necessarily mean it's in the exact same shape as when it was cracked out since as you know photos do have their limitations. That also doesn't get into the whole altering images thing

There are people I would trust their word for it, most I wouldn't. That said as a buyer the safest way to look at it is always once it's out its out and don't let any side stuff like loose labels influence you

 

I’m contacting people at the TPGs to get added protection to unprotected slabs so that the fake slabs are less effective.

Huh?

what?

Not really. Pack them well and ship them the correct way, and you won’t have a problem. The TPGs do not alter coins unless paid to do so.

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes no. A lot of the Chinese die-transfer counterfeits will have diagnostics of a genuine variety. Their quality varies greatly from blatantly obvious to fool the TPGs.

Not necessarily. I own fakes that were struck out of the same alloy, or the thickness was increased to bring the fake up to the right weight.

I ask myself “do I see anything wrong with the coin.” I do this with certified coins too, so I spot and avoid technical problem coins in straight slabs.

This is a huge plus to slabs. You can also use Coin World snap-together slabs

I’m thinking about doing the same thing, but with fake slabs

 

You're not alone. I like bags full of coins and a room full of em!

 

Yeah but so sad that China will cheat on everything. Even put antifreeze in baby food to meet US Standers for protein

 

If the brain's working then it's more than everything else these days!

 

Having gotten rid of most of the series I collected as a child, I am now left with a moderate number of coins that are special to me. They are all raw and I do like them that way, but I worry about when I'm gone. Disposing of them will be another hassle for my wife or son as they have no clue about coins. So I'm considering slabbing some of the best ones as well as some ancients where even I'm not completely sure of mints, types, etc. I hate to do it, but I'm thinking it will be easier for my heirs.

 

@Buttons, it all depends upon what these better coins are worth. The rule of thumb used to be a value of $200 before you even considered getting a coin certified. Today that number has got to higher, perhaps $300 to $400, given the cost of slabbing plus the shipping fees which have increased significantly.

In addition you also have to know how to grade and spot problem coins. A coin might catalog for the required amount, but if it’s got something wrong with it, it’s not worth that.

A trusted dealer, or an expert collector friend might help you. You could also post some pictures here in the U.S. and ancient coin areas. I am not sure how much ancient coin certification will help you. Those collectors and dealers are not as sold on certification as the U.S. collectors are.

 

johnmilton --- Good information and suggestion -- thank you

 

Leaving information is a great idea (something I still have to do). Putting the coins in holders of some sort and listing them with their values as of this date will go a long ways towards ending the confusion.

 

Kentucky --- that is definitely true, but I'm thinking that if they are going to sell them, then it will be easier if the coins are slabbed. Even if they have the correct values for the raw coins, any dealer is going to offer them much less and they'll probably just say things have changed and they're worth less now. Which, of course, might be true.

 

Shady dealers will undercut slabs also. Their price is no more fixed than raw coins. Information as to what you paid and their current value is the way to go.

 

true, but at least then they have information to go of off and of course can just sell online and not worry about the shady dealer

 

Honestly, same with raw coins.

 

Good purchase