Shifting From Raw To Slabbed Collection

While hunting for slabs, PCGS often times, is harsh on how they grade their coins. If you carefully inspect coins slabbed by PCGS you may be able to score a coin that is a undergraded by a few points, buy the coin not the slab.

Another thing, that is really random is to actually examine the slab itself, I bought a MS coin in a pcgs slab and the actual plastic was broken off of the bottom and makes it impossible to stack with my other pcgs slabs.. It's obviously not too big of a deal because I got the coin I wanted, but it still bugs me in the back of my mind.

Are you looking to slab some of your type set or lincolns, or are you looking to find large cents that are slabbed as you move forward?

Let's see the 20 cent piece!

I have seen more than a few "unattributed" coins in slabs. They ( TPG) won't note it on the insert if the sender does not pay extra for it!

I posted this a while back. After I finish the raw set, I'll post some better pics. These were just quick scans with the scanner.

https://goccf.com/t/104355

I'll try to answer your questions about Registry Sets. The PCGS registry will only accept PCGS graded coins. The NGC Registry will accept NGC and PCGS coins. I am not aware of any Registry that will accept ANACS or any other TPG coins. You can join the NGC Collectors Society for free you just won't have access to some of their web content. You will be able to access their Forums as well as the Registry. I have not experience using the PCGS Registry so you might have to do some reading on their site on how to get access there if that is your choice.

Aye I reiterate: "Buy the coin, not the slab." :-)

TPG Registries will not allow ids they have not, themselves, certified (so no mixing ANACS, PCGS, NGC, etc.).

If you want to track them as a set, Numismetrica will allow you to associate your TPG id numbers with the coins you've entered into your collection regardless of which company did the certification.

I made the switch to slabbed coins about 2 years ago and here are some things that I have learned. You usually should expect to pay more for a PCGS slab, but in some cases it can be quite a bit more. This is true especially with high graded modern coins. For example, a pre-1982 Lincoln Memorial cent graded MS67RD by PCGS can cost about twice as much as one graded the same by NGC. I think this is due to PCGS being stricter with their higher MS grades and the demand for these coins because of PCGS registry sets. Many sellers will try to sell modern NGC, ANACS & ICG graded coins for what PCGS coins are going for and you should be able to find those at lower prices.

I think you can find some under-graded coins in slabs, especially the older slabs. If you are a good grader, you can find some good deals out there.

I agree that you can find some great coins in ICG slabs, but it is my experience that they are often over-graded by a grade or two. The ICG slabs often sell at such a discount that you can still get a good deal despite the over-grading.

The best advice is still to buy the coin and not the slab. All TPG's have ugly, over-graded coins out there.

Your 1875-S Twenty Cent Piece also has the dropped digit (7 or 5) in the dentails, you can see the top of the digit in your scan. I have been told that it is fairly common, but it's another bonus to your S over S!

Lots of nice raw coins in that scan, and you are well on your way in completing your 7070!

I've collected several "runs" in slabs. I like the flexibility of deciding what does or doesn't "belong" in my "slab album", as in I am not forced to feel as though any hole an album company makes needs to be filled! In some of the traditional albums I inherited I put in "plugs/fillers" in those holes and refuse to fill them!

Because slab album pages are 9 openings, the only thing I kind of attempt to do is "target" a run in some multiple of 9 - tho even that is just a preference.

So I started with a "all gem+ buffalo herd" and landed on 1930 and above to fill two pages. Most are PCGS but a couple are NGC - nothing less. My Peace dollar album is three pages of mostly MS63+ but runs the gamut of TPGs including a couple basement slabbers. My Franklin Proof album is just one page of all PR64+. I love the fact that I decide where it starts and stops by MY TASTES, and "oddity" coins are up to me to decide on. I included a 3-legger, for example, in my herd though it is the one not "GEM" LOL, because I always wanted one anyway. But no others in any run! I can add a page at will to any of them whenever I want.

Then when doing a "true RED" IHC album I stopped at the last "3 pages" of years. Most of that set are raw coins that I put in Coin World slabs myself. I'm not bothered by them not being in a PCGS, NGC, ANACS slab. It would have cost me 10X as much if I hadn't bought most of them raw.

I'm not that familiar or "into" registry sets, not sure what the attraction is? I hear others talk about them but just haven't looked into that scene!

My experience is that slabbed coins are at a premium and it is much harder to buy them at near-wholesale prices, as is my target. Most of the bargains I found were at coin shows or ebay auctions. Online stores and dealers and ebay BIN offers RARELY want to part with a PCGS/NGC certified coin for less than 95% of retail, in my experiences. So the bargains you can sometimes find on raw or "garbage TPG"s like ICG or basement slabbers are truly non-existent when looking at the BIG2. At least for the types I like to collect.

Good Luck ALL!