My First TPG Submission Results - Guessing Game

That's clearly a subjective question, but in general, yes.
I have decided to enter the realm of collecting higher quality coins, and I think part of that process is to come to terms with the fact that you will be using TPG's. I've never really been a fan, but I think it would be swimming upstream to resist that.

However, if I had discovered this site earlier, I would have saved some money. One of the bagged coins is a Capped Bust half that was probably polished or whizzed (still not quite sure what that means yet), but I submitted it knowing that it was probably cleaned. A bunch of other of the same variety I did not submit, because I knew they were cleaned, but in a different way.

The other two bagged coins were "not genuine", and a simple weighing would have identified that. I can't really understand why I didn't do that prior to submitting, because I did that on a couple of other counterfeits. For whatever reason, I didn't find these coins suspicious, even though they were pretty high value ($700/each). Oh well, lesson learned I hope.

A couple of the details coins surprised me, and a number did not, and I thought it was worth the process to establish that they are genuine. One details coin came back scratched, and I could not find out why. It took me literally 2 minutes to find the scratch, but when tilted at just the right angle, it popped out at me. Oddly enough, I took a picture of the coin in low light, and the scratch just jumped right out.

One common Morgan 1889 dollar that I submitted was because I had a roll of 20 uncirculated. I sent in a representative sample to try and determine roughly where to grade them. I could have done that here.

Finally, the 1799 dollar that I paid good money for came back genuine at VF 30. That was my primary concern.

So, I would do it differently, and more intelligently knowing what I know now after joining this community, but I would still submit at least half of those coins to a TPG.

Additionally - could you post a couple images of a few of the grades?

@SilverDollar2017
I will post some pictures of the coins involved soon. For me personally, I am entertained as much by the experience of collecting as by the subjects of the collecting, so I have chosen to talk about the experience first (if that makes any sense). I think it makes for an interesting narrative, but I can understand why others might not be so inclined, and just want to see the results.

Also, I've bombarded the forums enough for today. I don't want people to grow too weary from my topics.

Thanks Zurie. I believe it will be. To be clear, I don't necessarily begrudge the details grades when they are expected. It is what it is you know. I was just surprised by a couple of them. I will definitely be more diligent in the rudimentary procedure of at least measuring and weighing the coins prior to submission though. That's really what I regret.

By doing this you are starting to understand the pitfalls of buying raw coins. You have just leapfrogged over many other casual numismatics.

Raw coins always come with high risk. And in most instances have a risk/reward profile that most advanced collectors aren't willing to accept. Gambling on coins rarely works out no matter how many times others boast of it.

You have learned a lot in a very short period of time. Sometimes mistakes are a tough pill to swallow and can be discouraging. But not so much if you learn from mistakes you made.

I love raw coins. They are much more pleasing to handle. They're much more fun to view without the annoying thick layer of plastic that comes with graded coins. But these little buggers are expensive and are considered to be an asset. So part of the equation for any numismatic should be to evaluate an exit strategy.

Raw coins guarantee a complicated exit strategy. With graded coins, not so much.

My advice moving forward would be to only buy graded coins unless you enjoy headaches.

Did you say pictures

I'm curious about the coins in the middle if that is not a rude request.

OK, here are the body bags. Total brain fart on the first two counterfeits.

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1879 S quarter weighing 5.7g vs authentic 6.2g

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1870 S Half weighing 10.9g vs authentic 12.4g

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1827 Half - Not Suitable for Grading
I suspect its been polished or whizzed or something.

I have not been bitten by the "body bag" bug as far as submittals go. I have been bathed in numerous "details" coins though. My observations were the same as Coinfrog's. That MM (25C) and dates (25 & 50C) jumped out at me at first glance. The mushy head on the quarter was pretty bad as well.

Bottom line; "...we learn by doing..." Aristotle