I was just reading the post about grading and whether or not to submit a 1883 CC Morgan to be graded and see this as another puzzling area of the hobby. Obviously, there must be some consideration as to the potential value, authenticity, cost of submission, etc. I see lots of coins on ebay under $50 that are slabbed, so I guess those were one that didn't make the hoped for grade. What's the bottom line; personal preference?
FWIW it seems kind of crazy to grade and slab $50 coins, but there are people who only collect graded coins, so ......
The 50 dollar coins get there in two major ways, bulk submissions where the cost of grading is significantly reduced meaning those can still be profitable and people who just thought they would grade better than they did. From a monetary standpoint when to get something graded is a simple math equation. Will the graded coin add more value (if it grades how you expect) than the cost of grading. For example if you got a coin for 20 and getting it graded would cost you 40 but you would then be able to sell it for 80 or more that would be worth it as opposed to still having a raw 20 dollar coin. Now if a coin is special to you for whatever reason money doesn't matter and you can grade whatever you want. I've had some coins graded that my father gave to me as a kid that aren't worth the cost of the plastic and I couldn't care less as those coins aren't going anywhere. I should also add certain coins really have to be graded and you don't have a choice unless you wanted to sell them for pennies on the dollar. For instance a 16-D Mercury dime the overwhelming majority of people won't touch that coin raw unless you'd take like 10-20 bucks for it.
Before slabbing a coin, think: Can I sell this coin for the amount of $$$ that I bought it for + the amount it cost to get slabbed? (Usually about $35 + shipping) If you can, send it in. If you can't, don't. That is, unless one of your favorite coins is raw and you want an opinion from the TPGs really bad.
