Collecting Only Slabbed Coins?

Buying raw coins is fine if one can hold and see the coin. I find nothing wrong with buying at coin shows but when it comes to Internet sales, I am very cautious. I recently purchased four raw Morgans on one auction. The pics looked great, I even contacted the seller and asked if he had anyone attempt to grade them. I was informed they were in the range of AU50.
Once I received these coins I knew immediately they were fakes. Needless to say, I didn't waste anytime, this person is no longer selling on the site and is permanently banned and can not return under another user name.

I do still buy raw, but only from a few select dealers.

Someone mentioned that often people will crack a slab and resubmit for a new grade. With the new technology in use today, this problem will no longer exist. One of the largest TPG has a new system to prevent the same coin from being resubmitted for a different grade and also to prevent a stolen slabbed coin from being cracked open and sent in by someone else. It's like fingerprinting a coin.

You need to read up on the service.

However we should all remember that everyone involved in any hobby has different goals, likes, dislikes, preferences, etc.
For examples I see people flying model planes in a park not far from me. They build them and fly them. I have a neighbor that builds model planes and says he would never fly one. Might get broken.
I go to lots of car shows in my area. Some people bring in old cars on a flat bed, never driven anywhere and they look like new. Some drive in their cars and don't care if the underside gets dirty. Some restore old cars and drive them every day.
A friend of mine purchased a .22 caliber gun for his son to learn on. It was a Gold & Silver engraved gun with peril handles. At gun ranges I hear some people say this guy is nuts. That should be on a wall, not used for a kid to learn.
As to slabbed coins! I collect coins, not plastic.

The "coin sniffer" and the scanner that creates the digital fingerprint that can recognize a resubmitted coin are two completely different things.

Conder101, I know the 2 are like apples and oranges, My point being, the technology being used today, is NOT always a good thing, as noted, I believe the TPG'S have created a corner on the market and the collecting public is along for the ride, Raw is beautiful.
I know people who collect and do not have even a clue as to just what they are buying and rely primarily on these companies to do the grading for them, I feel this has created a cash cow..........

I know how to grade certain coins and even when I do I am going to have someone else come up with another grade sometimes, this is understood and all a matter of opinion, which we all have one.... I do not need a stranger telling me this is what your coin grades, I do have some slabbed coins, which are key and semi key date coins, I believe these companies have there place in this hobby, but I also believe it is an inflated business, tooooo much weight placed on a "slabbed coin".....

I some times get a little running of the fingers, As you might of noticed, I really do not like the direction the TPG'S are going or have been for some time, which I am glad NOT to be alone.......

Slabbed has two big advantages. Consider that most of the people on this board are experts. Myself excluded, of course. If you hand folks here a given coin, they'll be able to tell very accurately what the grade of that coin is. But your "casual collector" often won't. What's more, your casual collector might not even be able to tell the authentic from the bogus.

So, what the TPGs offer is a democratization of the hobby. No longer is the casual collector at the mercy of the experts. They have an independent, trusted source to tell them what the grade of a coin is. The TPG isn't always right, of course, but it's close, and it's respected. And the slabs are great ways to protect the coins from the ravages of time and handling.

There's also the point that some of the most trustworthy sellers/auction houses deal exclusively in slabbed coins (Heritage, for instance). If you live in a wasteland like I do where there's no good local store, you're going to be a slab collector, simply because that's what you have access to.


Now with that said, I'm not sold on the value of TPGs in all cases, but there seems to be a lot of negativity here in this thread, I just wanted to try and balance things out a bit :)

I would like to give my opinion as a brand new collector - hope you all don't mind.

I've decided to start collecting pennies - wheats through current (I'll eventually move backwards to IHC). I really enjoy opening my Dansco and seeing the open spots that need to be filled. I've bought some bulk coins and I also really enjoy trying to pick the better of the two coins to put back into the Dansco. I know for a fact that I own some MS coins, but are they MS62 or MS64? I don't know and honestly I'm trying to learn.

I do feel like I can't limit myself to collecting pennies and I have an interest in collecting some Key Date coins in other sets. I don't really care to collect the entire set though. This is where the grading company's, in my opinion, really come into play. As a beginner, if I can't really distinguish the MS grades in the coins that I'm collecting, there's no way I'm going to be able to grade something I have only seen a few times.

I enjoy collecting pennies, but I do feel that when I'm investing money into something to resell later I will buy slabbed coins. My reason is because I feel like it will be easier to sell the coin on the internet. And if you have a TPC slab, then more people are going to be comfortable buying that coin vs a raw one. I know I would.

Thanks for listening