I have several key date coins that I'm pretty sure have been cleaned. I'm trying to decide if it is worthwhile to have them graded. I am considering selling them in the future. Will they bring more value slabbed or unslabbed? I had 3 slabbed at ANACS which I didn't know were cleaned: 1877-S Trade $; 1860-0 $; 1834 50C. All came back cleaned (MS & AU details). I've attached one of the coins I debating about slabbing. I'm new to coins and I'm very bad about determining if something is cleaned.
It could go either way I think, you sell it full price to someone who wants it or doesn't know it's cleaned, or you get it's authenticity verified and it details graded with a blaring "cleaned" printed on the slab and it will sell for its details price most likely.
If you want to get anything for a key date it needs to be graded IMO. There are just flat out getting to be too many really good fakes in the hobby not to get a professional opinion on them.
I agree with LindeDad. It's much better to have a key date graded as "genuine/cleaned" then taking a chance buying a fake.
I slab all key dates when it comes time to sell. It's a real pain to sell a coin and have it questioned after you think the deal is done. I feel folks will pay more for a coin when they know for sure what they are buying. It becomes more important with coins that are known for fakes.
I agree 100%. Cleaned or not, when it comes to key dates, a genuine slab is important with all the fakes out there.
I agree, get key dates slabbed if only for authentication purposes. I'm quoting the above post for one reason, in particular the last part. "... it will sell for its details price most likely." I agree, but it shouldn't, at least with respect to NGC (I haven't looked at the other TPG's about the particular meaning of their "details" slabs). As I read it from their site the grade on an NGC "DETAILS" coin is the grade NGC would assign IF THE COIN WAS ORIGINAL, surfaces and all. Therefore a buyer of such a coin should pay less than the price for the grade. And depending on the degree of alteration, a proper price should be the value of anything from one full grade to several multiple grades LESS than the grade on the slab. That is generally not the case in the real world. On an NGC slab if it says XF DETAILS most often the coin sells for an XF price. As to PCGS it didn't matter since the only put "Genuine" on the slab. But I thought I heard recently that they will/are now adding a grade. Am I correct with my overall understanding?
