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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Old Texas Reb, post: 2930224, member: 91220&quot;]Building &amp; enjoying a lifetime collection and making a profit when you sell isn&#039;t rocket science&nbsp; but it is a LOT of work.</p><p><br /></p><p>Whether you specialize in US coins, world coins or ancients there are two simple rules you have to follow.&nbsp; #1:&nbsp; You must learn to sight-grade raw coins accurately without relying on slabs as a crutch.&nbsp; ANA, Photograde and PCGS publish excellent grading guides that you can start with but knowledge really comes from looking at LOTS of coins and making a few mistakes.&nbsp; Eventually you will be able to tell what coins are nice for the grade, overgraded or undergraded and spot the bargains.&nbsp; #2:&nbsp; If you specialize in a certain area in world or US coins, study it carefully.&nbsp; Get familiar with better dates and mintmarks, varieties and which coins are typically weakly or strongly struck.&nbsp; In other words, when you buy coins at a show or from a dealer you have to know at least as much about the coins you are looking at than the person selling them, preferably more!&nbsp; Photos and websites are great but I&#039;ve always preferred to buy coins when I can see and examine them personally.</p><p><br /></p><p>I periodically check my skills acquired over the years by looking at encapsulated coins without checking the assigned grade on the holder, come up with an opinion and then look at the grade on the slab.&nbsp; In most cases, I grade tighter![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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