Slabs And Value

Slabs are an excuse to add a fortune to a coins value.
If that is your buzz so be it.I won't bother.

When buying slabbed coins, I don't consider the PCGS price guide, and I don't factor the cost of the slab into what I'm willing to pay. I go by Coins Magazine prices because they are lower than most other price guides. As a result, I generally buy my coins at the best value.

I scratch my head when I see slabbed common coins like business strike State Quarters priced at $10 to $15 in coin show bargain bins. The slab cost more than the coin! What were the submitters thinking?

Some high graded rare coins in a slab is fine.
Surely anything below £500 is madness.If you don't know your subject don't dip your big toe in.
Fakes are being sold by major auction houses in the UK and a few TPG US companies have been found out.
Forums like this can point out the crud.
Keep it up chaps.

For anything under about $500, ebay sold listings is probably the best price guide.

I recently bought a 1980 PCGS PF69DCAM for $7 and a 1994 NGC PR69 Ultra Cameo for $4.50, including shipping. I wouldn't pay to have those coins graded, but if someone else wants to pay for it and I only pay a $2 premium for the graded slab, why not? However, do I think anyone is ever going to pay me the $21 that the PCGS price guide has those proofs listed at? No. I might get $10-12 if I was patient.

I have a common date Walking Half that is a MS63-64 grade and I notice that I might be able to get $40-50 in a slab vs $20-30 raw. So that might just barely cover the cost of grading if I was lucky, and if the TPG agrees and grades it that high.

TPG slabs do seem easier to sell online, so I would probably lean toward those if the price premium is not too high. With a graded coin you know what you have. With a non-graded coin it's just a guess at an approximate range, which means you have to price near the bottom of the possible range.