Wow--Just Saw This..and I Had A Bid In..fake PCGS Slab Ike

Buying coins and holding them with the expectation of profit is highly risky, even rare coins with a great history have volatile swings in price. I am currently writing a reference work on registry set collecting, and I advise most collectors to leave the top tier alone unless a) they are absolutely committed to have the best coins and understand what makes these coins the best of their class and b) that they understand that they may be buying the coin at the top of the market.

I'm not going to speak to PCGS grading of Eisenhower proofs. They are certainly NOT loose when it comes to handing out Proof 70s in this series. That said, every Proof 70 that is certified must find a buyer and the total number of buyers interested in this series that are willing to pay heavy multiples of what a Proof 69 would cost are few, so each additional one that is revealed creeps lower and lower into the mainstream tier of collector who may be willing to spend hundreds, but not thousands for a coin they like.

I have it on good authority, that at the FUN show an individual was walking the bourse floor with a fake MS-70 Ike. Don't know what happened to that person, but needless to say, they probably didn't find a sucker to buy the coin off of them.

I may be new at this, but already I don't care much for slabbed coins, even though I own several. I like being able to hold an actual coin, not a case, in my hand. I like coins, not plastic cases, and it seems to me that considerations of a coin's monetary value can morph into considerations of a grading service's monetary value. The grading business strikes me, on an intuitive level, as being ripe for corruption and fraud. Grading of coins leads to grading of grading services, even if informally. What's next, certification of certifiers? I prefer to let the free market determine a coin's quality, but as I said, I'm just a new guy.

@Fred,

I understand what you are saying, but I can tell you,

I've held in my hand an MS-68 Silver Ike Business Strike, an MS-68+ Ike Business Strike, and an MS-69 Silver Ike Business Strike. It was obvious to me the differences.

Is that difference worth thousands of dollars? That's a personal decision. Again that price is the result of demand. If there is one or two coins that are that nice and there are a couple guys who have to have it- the hammer price will be through the roof.

This is where it is fundamentally important to know what it is you are looking at and what it is you want out of your collection.

Is an MS-70 Modern Commemorative a rare coin? Uncommon, yes... rare, no. Would an MS-70 Ike (or an MS-69, for that matter) be a rare coin, absolutely.

Did the owner of that Proof care that he took a hit because the price fell? Who knows. If the series picks up more popularity, and it will with time, he could recover his losses, if he even cares about that.

People who collect coins just to look at the bottom line may be in the wrong hobby... rare coin values do not always go up.

Not "next", already. CAC Jellybeans and Rick Snow and EAC.

I'm not arguing with your observation. If they were sent back "raw", do you honestly feel they'd get the same grades?

If not, don't you feel a little silly to pay $100+ to have someone tell you "A is nicer than B, which is nicer than C"?

Or maybe they don't even rank them the same, in which case you should feel a big silly.