Am I Better Buying Raw Proofs Or Graded Proofs?

We believe that 'raw' always provides "shelf appeal" and one can view the coin at any time. Slabbed, or certified coins in unison with the Sheldon scale are merely for the unsuspecting. A five lens is usually used to determine the so-called characteristics of a coin. We see no difference in a 69 or 70, as there have been many distractions in the certification area, namely some 'slabbing' coins that are not on par with a certain grade. However one may view the grading services; the bottom line remains: 25 ¢ remains 25 ¢ in reality. To place a stipulation to a coin contingent upon a grading service, 'such as grade' is probably the biggest money maker associated with numismatics today. If you believe that purchasing a Grade 70 coin shall return substantial profits, think again. The only way such a coin would return a realized profit would be contained in the "numbers" > "Same story, never changes".

If one purchases a certified coin consisting of a large mintage (In the millions); 'What do you believe the coin's value would be'?

if you are building a set, buy them graded but dont waste your time with any 70s. Too much risk in case, say a silver coin develops milk spots or a gold coin gets brown spots.

I prefer a slabbed 69 for proof silver and 69s for gold.

Now people will say, "thats crazy, no point in grading bullion". I agree but I think-

1- people want the added safety of a slabbed coin

2- grading, lets face it, is not going away nor losing steam. If anything, it seems grading is everywhere, its pretty much the norm now. I find more and more coins I wanted already slabbed and graded rather than in OMP.

3- In my experience, I have found a proof 69, in an auction, going for LESS than the Mints original price. In bullion gold coins, I have seen a slabbed MS69 go for LESS, in auction, than a Buy It Now price from a dealer. So guess what option I am going for? I am going for the lower price, which included a slab.

Pretty nuts I know. I used to think, I can escape these slabs. Yet, I Find more and more coins getting slabbed/graded. But these are valid points I feel for someone starting to put a collection together.

Bullion proof coins are too much over actual spot price. The premium isn't worth it to me but it might be to you.

If you REALLY want a great set of Silver Eagles, proof, special, or mint state - whichever you prefer - save your bucks until you can buy a complete set of one or the other or all at one time.

You can often find proof sets all the way updated to this year in MS-69 for under $2000. If you take the value of the what the individual coins actually sell for (not list for) you can see a very big savings buying a whole set.

Keep in mind that if you are trying to avoid death by TPG stay the heck away from any silver with white spots. Even tiny white spots. They are evil and no one BUT a strict bullion buyer wants them.

Regardless of how you buy - if it's silver you are buying - keep far away from issues with "milk spots".

Be careful buying raw ASEs as there are a lot of counterfeits out there. They're fairly easy to spot once you know what you're looking for.

Personally, I prefer slabbed/graded not only for my own protection (presuming the slabs themselves are legitimate as well), but as additional assurance to prospective buyers later.

Here are a couple of threads with some pictures of counterfeits. If you find one that doesn't look like these, that's no guarantee it's genuine, but these may help identify characteristics of a real one.

https://goccf.com/t/152050
https://goccf.com/t/256411

@TMCD75

See what I have done is the following: I have not bought a single silver bullion coin that is slabbed, because the risk is wayyyyy tooo high that milk spots develop.

Proof silver, I will buy a PF69 as an example. Again my reasoning, my experience has been I can get it for LESS than mint/dealer OMP via ebay auctions from a well known dealer, such as MCM or others AND the auction prices end up well below the price of it being in OMP. So, in case those nasty milk spots DO show up on a PF69, well the blow back in what I paid versus the grade will not impact me much.

With gold, about the only thing that can happen is those brown spots, some folks call them copper spots, but to me, personally, I can manage that. Again, if I get a MS69 gold american eagle at an ebay auction, it will be LESS than if I paid the "buy it now" price for a non-slabbed bullion american eagle coin. So I mean, I think we all want a good deal, so why not get the MS69 gold bullion and save some moola?

Plus, as time goes on and YES I agree with folks out there, slabs are being faked left and right now BUT if I keep my paper work and proof of the dealer I got it from,,, the buyer will feel fine and you get this added layer of safety in a crazy knock off fake world.

How bad is counterfeit slabbed coins? That is so pathetic, it speaks to humans' appetite for greed and to make money at all costs.