Slabed silver eagles

I called a dealer friend to buy some silver eagles, said that he had 51 that were slabed. Why would anyone slab a silver eagle ?

 

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"Why would anyone buy a slabbed Silver Eagle?" Good question, given that it's a bullion coin.

The answer lies in the MS70 craze, which is a really good way for dealers or anyone enterprising enough to have bullion coins slabbed, to get people to over pay for a bullion coin. Some people want "the best" and will pay a premium to have that coin in a slab that says MS70.

In my opinion it's kind of silly for a coin that was never intended to circulate anyways. Save your money and buy a raw example, in all likelyhood you won't be able to tell the difference between the raw coin and the MS70 coin that someone paid three times the bullion melt value for.

 

There are a lot of people out there who like to collect slabbed coins because they want the guarantee of authenticity and want to know the grade of the coins they own. So there is a market for them. If they sell close to what a raw coin costs, I think it is well worth buying them. While the old saying "buy the coin, not the holder" is very valid, slabbed coins have their place. The fact that they were not made to circulate is irrelevent in my opinion.

 

Thanks for the replies. I bought the slabbed coins at $ 35.00 each and I'm ok with that.

 

What Cloud and Race both said is very true, slabbed ASE's really are pointless other than to say you have a 70, which to me seems pretty foolish since pretty much every ASE minted is probably at least a 69. Early in the summer before I knew anything about bullion and coin collecting I spent $96 on a PR70 ASE...kind of regretting it now, could have got 3 unslabbed ASE's for that price! Oh well, you learn from your mistakes.

 

$35 each is a very good deal for slabbed eagles

 

so how insane is THIS??

http://moderncoinmart.com/cart1/product.php?productid=23658&cat=49&page=1

 

Just to be clear, I didn't say it was pointless. I said it was worth it if the price was close to what a raw coin costs. Nobody knows whether or not the slabbed coins are worth it or not. At some point in the future most of the raw ASEs might have been melted or mishandled and the slabbed examples may represent the only remaining high grade examples.

 

The slabbed eagles you were buying are the rejects. The dealer sent in a large quantity hoping for 70's, and any one that is not 70 he is selling off at near bullion value. I don't see the slab adding much value, but if its there, its there. They can be a PITA to remove, (I know), so leave them be. Don't make the assumption many do that either:

1. The dealer lost money slabbing these. He more than got his money back he paid for slabbing all of them by the premiums he charged on the 70's he sold.
2. That if it cost $15 to slab, that you coin is worth ASE value PLUS $15. The $15 is a sunk cost and is not really adding to any value to your coin.

If you understand all of this, buy or not buy slabbed bullion to your heart's content.

Just my opinion,

Chris

 

Given the current price of silver you did quite well.

Personally, I don't slab my eagles but I do understand that others collect and enjoy the slabs.

 

Interestingly, several years ago I bought several ASEs in slabs marked MS67 and MS68. The coins looked fine, and this is a high grade for almost anything else. But because they were graded so "low," they sold for a significant discount to melt value. Go figure.

 

Lol, selling any bullion coin at a discount to melt on its face is beyond stupid, but I think we see a lot of stupid in the world, right Cloud?

 

I don't know if it is "stupid" or just a difference of opinion. The seller may have made a lot of money on the higher grade coins in the batch and just wanted to get the cash out of the hard to move slabs to plow back into the business. So it might have made business sense to sell at a discount rather than hold in inventory for months.

 

Even if this scenario was true, it still sounds like a poor financing options since most dealers would pay him spot I imagine for slabbed ASE in any grade. "making enough money" is always a fool's thought in business, there is never "enough money" to be made, you have to maximize every transaction.

Sorry that is just a pet peeve of mine. We bought another plant a year ago, and when going over their operations they claimed they "made enough money" on one aspect of the business so never worried about another aspect. Unless they are tied together somehow, or overall customer satisfaction is involved, ALWAYS MAXIMIZE EVERY TRANSACTION. Business has so many things can go wrong, and most are to the downside, that any business passing up easy profits are almost guaranteeing themselves to lose in the long run.

Just my opinion. Maybe I am too hardened from business.....

Chris

Edit: Btw Cloud I do not disagree with your point about moving cash quickly, I guess I am assuming that ASE, even lower priced, in a slab or raw usually have a base floor dealer to dealer at melt. I have never seen ASE without a premium for sale, and was offered slightly above melt once when I was talking to a dealer about sell prices. If that is incorrect, and the best price the dealer you bought from could get was to sell to you, then I retract my argument against his actions.

 

I have no idea why the ASEs were priced that way. I just never like to assume that it was due to stupidity on the part of the seller.

 

If anybody ever sees ASEs in slabs selling below spot, please PM me and I will buy as many as I possibly can.

 

Hi Guys,

So I have a couple questions...since I was thinking of collecting the silver eagles...From the US Mint, you could purchase them slabbed, as proofs. Online, it seems you can get uncirculated for pretty cheap. Would there be any reason to collect these as proofs? Or would uncirculated be fine? If you were to collect these as uncirculated, would you slab them and get them independently graded? Would you do this if it were a proof? (My only experience in coin collecting thus far, has been circulated coins.) Thanks!

 

These are not slabbed per se, they just come in an air-tite capsule. The mint does not grade or slab coins, they'll just send them in protective capsules and presentation cases.

Some people like the proofs, because the way they are minted, etc. It's really a preference. I myself obtain a proof each year to add to the collection.

Sure, like above, just depends on your collecting preferences.

No, they all go into a air-tite or album folder, some go into a 20 coin tube with the other bullion uncirculated ones.

No, only slab if it if gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling of it's grade and if you think reselling it will bring a little more profit. If you never intend to sell your coins, don't bother with getting them slabbed, just be happy with the coin.

 

I agree with you. It cost twice the value of the coin to slab it and adds little or no money.

 

Except for the 25th Aniv. set :thumb: