Trusting The Grading Of Dealers

Use your eyes instead of the dealers. Do some research on the coins you are getting. These suggestions will save some money and headaches in the long run.

I have found that the grade of the coin is not the issue, but rather the coin's appearance (eye appeal) and price. It doesn't matter what grade the dealer assigns a coin that has caught your eye, but rather what price you and the dealer can negotiate. Grading is very subjective, even the top tier third party graders frequently won't agree on the grade of any specific coin, and there are many examples of people cracking a coin out of a slab, sending it to another TPG and getting a higher grade assigned (or sometimes, winding up with a lower grade!) Grading in any series tends to shift with the current popularity of the series, as well...thus you get "market grading" that tends to increase the grade assigned to a coin to address market pressures (supply and demand) that elevate prices.

I'm sure none of this is actually helpful to you...alas. In the end...you have to look at a coin (in hand or online) and decide (1) if you like it, (2) do you want to buy it, and (3) what you are willing to pay for it.

I seldom buy online...coin photos are very tricky things, and even an honest photographer can unintentionally provide pictures that don't accurately reflect the appearance of the coin "in hand." With practice, you learn to interpret many photos, so you have a better idea of what the coin actually will look like when you get it in the mail.

IHC's are a great series. One of my favorites. The best advice I can give anyone starting out in a new series is to (1) first buy several common dates in various grades (as determined by you) so you get familiar with the idiosyncracies of the serie; (2) once familiar with the coins in differnt grades, try to find and buy key dates and semikey dates in the highest grade you can afford. Then complete your set with common dates that match your keys.

Of course, if you are like me, your attention span is too short for most series, so I like picking up examples of 18th, 19th and early 20th century US coins as I find them, in the best quality I can afford. My "collection" is really an accumulations of odd coins. But I'm happy, what the heck!

good luck

Welcome, Copper. All of the input here is great. The only chance you have to protect yourself is experience and the ability to grade. If you are not comfortable with your grading work hard on it. There are great website references which you can Google and books to buy. One or two grading points at times can mean hundreds if not thousands of dollars. So many people do not trust their ability to grade, that is why in my opinion, TPGs are so popular. Some buy the slab, not the coin, as they see it as an insurance policy. Trust me, TPGs can make mistakes, too.
Jim

Copper Feather, welcome to one of the BEST forums on the planet for coins! I have learned more in my 3 months here than I could have learned in a year reading books.
Don't be shy about asking questions, (I actually asked almost the same question when I started here.) There are several lists in history here of dealers folks have had good and bad experiences with. As for grading, I have learned a ton about that subject by practicing in the Grading forum right here. Making my own best guess and comparing it to the experts has been an eye opener for me, and I have improved a lot in a short time.

Another thing that works well is to grade every coin your hands can touch, pocket change, shows, websites, ebay. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.

Once you get over 50 posts here you will be able to buy/sell/trade with members here which is a good deal as well.

Welcome.

Jim

Copper Feather,

Besides ebay the only online store I've ever purchased from is https://www.libertycoins.com

They're an excellent source for the higher end coins, and they provide decent scans for you to view. If you pay by check or money order they also accept returns if you're not happy. (if by credit card there's a restock charge).

For the lower end coins I would recommend finding a trusted dealer or attending coin shows. There's nothing like being able to inspect a coin in-hand, and walking away with it immediately. To me there's no reason to buy common, circulated coins online when you can browse someone's live inventory for the same exact thing.

I've browsed online for coins quite a bit, and this is what I have found. The internet is a poor place for buying common stuff. Most of the time they won't provide pictures, they'll be overgraded AND overpriced.

For the more expensive coins, such as keys or ultra-high grade commons you can find good buys through online stores but it still takes work and patience. The best place for me is ebay. Just make sure you don't jump into the ebay world without consluting those experienced with it. That is, unless you're already an experienced Ebayer.

If you find something of interest don't hesitate to post it here and ask for opinions. This website has been extremely helpful for me in that regard.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

Hey guys, thanks for all the suggestions and info. You've all been very helpful. Thank you, also, for welcoming me to what seems to be a great forum for coin talk. For some reason, in the eight years I've been into coins, I've never looked for a coin forum until now. Thanks again.

I would agree with Cuprous' suggestion. I could be easily said that Rick Snow is an expert on the FE and IHC series, and his grading guide is very well defined...it's helped me a lot! Welcome and enjoy collecting!