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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Cherd, post: 8109186, member: 24754&quot;]I only buy slabbed coins, and I completely agree with this. I&#039;ve been cataloging sales of slabbed coins and have accumulated large enough datasets to confidently say that most slabbed coin collectors feel the same way. There is huge overlap in prices realized between grades, and the overlap is understandable when you look at the pictures. People are buying based on eye appeal and other factors, not on grade alone. This isn&#039;t to say that price doesn&#039;t generally increase with the grade on the label, but then again, aesthetic quality also tends to increase in that direction.</p><p><br /></p><p>Slabbing ancients gives them a commodity like feel to some extent, however, this effect is minimal as compared to modern coins and other collectables. There will never be anything like a &quot;Green Sheet&quot; type of reference for ancients, as the variety, inconsistencies, and a pile of other factors make values base on &quot;grade&quot; rather arbitrary.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, coins being in slabs is less than ideal when it comes to photographing and examining. But, I think that &quot;impossible&quot; is a bit of an overstatement. Unless damaged, the plastic is clear enough that I do not feel as though my view is obscured, and glare while photographing can be handled with appropriate lighting and angles. The only parts of the coin that are obscured are the 4 relatively small portions of the edges where the tongs are fitted. Again, less than ideal, but not that big of a deal IMO.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Selling raw ancients on Ebay would be a tough job, as garnering confidence in the authenticity of your coins would be a severe uphill battle. People that sell coins on Ebay (Even modern coins) are almost required to get them graded to have a shot at consistently getting anywhere close to market value.</p><p><br /></p><p>I tend to hear a lot about these huge premiums that graded ancients realize in comparison to their raw counterparts, but in my experience, I have not been convinced that this is the case. With slabbed coin price ranges in mind, I have participated in auctions in search of raw silver coins (I still stay away from bronze) with the intention of having them graded later. I never tend to win anything because the coins go for around the same price, and if I&#039;m going to pay the same price, then it&#039;s silly (In my case anyway) to not wait for something where the fee has already been covered.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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