Tell me again why people like NGC

Howard, do you mean while they're a grader? If that's the case, yeah, I can see a conflict, there.

 

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Look, if you don't like coins in slabs, where are you buying quality coins from? Raw eBay? No Heritage, Teletrade, Stacks Bowers, Most Goldberg lots, etc. Shows? Think all those dealers let one gradable slip buy? Fat chance. By now, most coins not slabbed are problem coins, or have been put back a long time which is rarer all the time and they get graded right away when they surface. When I see a raw coin I think "ok, where is the problem" and if there isn't one it probably is a low value item. Go ahead and crack 'em out to put in a Dansco and the next potential buyer will surely think the same. Submitting directly to ANY TPG is a painful experience as several have outlined. If that process is aggravating to you, just buy them slabbed already and let someone else do the bleeding. There are plenty of them out there. I feel sometimes that the premium that comes with slabbed coins is because somebody had to go through that painful process and expense and is passing that onto the final user. Still just my opinion and just sharing a strategy that works for me. M

 

Graders are paid quite well, from what I understand. Well into six digits.

Of course the work is frantic and stressful, and I'll bet few of them really enjoy the hobby anymore. But it sure beats flipping burgers.
Lance.

 

Bravo Mike...thank you for saying what needed to be said.

 

Yeah you hear that a lot. Apparently all the gradable coins were all slabbed long ago and no one is submitting coins to the TPG's anymore. This explains why they went out of business long ago.:evilGrin:

 

Good one.

I wonder what percentage of the coins they grade are (1) crackouts, (2) regrades(or crossovers),(3) modern raw coins(saying 1959 on is modern), (4) non-modern raw, (5) foreign and the precentage returned genuine. I would find that interesting.

 

Good thoughts but I buy raw in lots of places you mention. I educated myself and know how to spot AT or damaged coins. I prefer to not pay someone else to grade for me, and so many new collectors are incapable or scared to do this I find I get some good bargains. I don't colelct US coins a lot anymore, but do buy them when its a deal. I got a few months ago in a lot a really pretty XF 1869s quarter. I would bet slabbed that coin itself would have went for more than I paid for the whole lot.

Yes, nowadays getting a coin slabbed increases its marketability in the US market. However, then you are competing with a lot more purchasers. I prefer to get deals and buy raw.

In all collectibles knowledge is money. Buying raw coins intelligently now constitutes knowledge since so many collectors now are afraid of anything not in their little plastic safety blanket, (not you guys on here though ).

 

Yeah, I heard about them. I think they're all on welfare now because let's face it what other skills did they have?

 

Not all raw coins for sale are problem coins, but I think the same thing. I have a lot of legit modern mint errors that most TPG companys just wont attribute the error grade on. Just because the error is too new, too little, too common, they are still mint error coins. Sometimes they stop grading errors that at one time they did acknowledge. Sometimes they will try to tell you a clipped coin that you found in a roll or bag yourself is pmd.

 

"just buy them slabbed already and let someone else do the bleeding."-- It's funny b/c on some other coin forums/sites, newbies with sort of expensive raw coins are often urged to do the "collector's club" thing with PCGS or NGC. And it's presumed that the TPG will grade their coins "fairly", i.e. won't bb any coins that are genuine, undergrade any coins, label coins as having "altered surfaces" that are not, etc.

Personally, I won't send any submissions to PCGS ever again. I don't have experience with NGC but after reading all this I think I'll pass. What I do as a buyer tho is to buy coins over $200 or so only in NGC or PCGS slabs (possibly ANACS). And even $50 coins--someone else has paid for the slab. All assuming I really like the coin & it's a good price.

As far as slabbed coins being "entombed"?--Most of us put our coins into some kind of holders--Whitman, Capitol, airtite, dansco (try unscrewing all 20 plastic screws to take one coin in or out of a Capitol holder for a large date set--now that's "entombed"). I haven't found NGC or PCGS slabs to diminish my enjoyment of the coins one bit. Again, assuming I like the coin, & think it's fairly graded. I think the NGC or PCGS slabs are a good way to show the coins off, & (mostly) I don't have to worry if they're fakes (esp. with gold), or that they were cleaned & I didn't spot it, etc. I could sell them on teletrade, or fee-bay, & probably get FMV.

Just my 2cents....YMMV....& of course I can't tell anyone else what kind of coins to buy.....

 

That make more sense as these are adults and full-time jobs, from what I understand.

 

Is that really true ? 100 K a year.. WOW .. Big Bucks.. for the grader of coins. No Wonder why coin collector paying so much money on a plastic holder slab by TPG.

 

That would be a dream job for some, others not so much.

If it were me, I think it would make me stop collecting. Imagine having all of these coins run through your hands every day, why would you want to spend your own money on them? That, and the fact many would be so much better than you could afford would seriously put me off wanting to collect them myself.

I like collecting rare coins, but having that many rare coins pass through your hands every day would make them seem less rare and more boring, no?

 

You know, you would! I'll bet you even know what they feed their coin sniffer dog over at PCGS. I don't even think that's a real dog!

 

You wouldn't have a choice. They don't allow their graders to collect, buy or sell coins as part of their job description. They say their graders are not in the hobby to avoid bias. Which makes sense to me. You don't want somebody who loves walking liberty halves that would have a tendency to over-grade them and slack on the rest.

 

Well, when I get around to it, I'm sending my IHC set to the NGC for grading and encapsulation.

 

Not if you are living in some of the most expensive areas of the country to live in.

But David Hall is not a "grader". The dealer owners still buy and sell.

I think you will find that all the top TPG's have rules against their graders dealing in coins. ICG did not want them buying/collecting either. Cameron had to get special permission to continue his sample slab collecting when he was a grader there. And he was restricted to just the sample slabs.