Help With Newbie Coin Questions

John1

Not a silly question at all!

It sounds from what you say that you are planning on sending in coins to a grading company to try to get high MS grades with a hope of making profit from them. Many people do this without understanding the grading systems well enough.

An MS coin simply means its in a state having no wear - like it left the mint. All coins made for circulation are ejected form the machine into a large bin, and others freshly ejected coins fall on top of them.

I have heard people say any coin actually found in circulation is going to be MS63 at best due to the dings etc. from the minting process (as described above). While I cannot verify this exact grade, I can say that roll searching has shown it will be very, very rare indeed to find a coin that somehow managed to escape damage at the mint and damage when put into the public.

An awful lot of slabbed coins exist that are pocket change value b/c people are willing to gamble they might "hit the jackpot." It generally is said that if a coin does not have a value of 150.00, you lose money on slabbing.

before you go lining the pockets of the grading companies, it would be good, instead, to study the game of grading coins and what a coin might be assigned when sent to a company. That education will keep the money in your own pocket.

If you value your money, post pics here and ask CCF what people here think the grade might be before sending anything in.

It also would be smart to do some homework on the alleged expertise of the grading companies. The marketers for the companies have done their job very well, but personal homework will help you understand reality a bit better.

Note this is not saying slabs are no good. Many people enjoy them. Just be educated to know the facts. There is a reason we at CCF say to "Buy the coin and not the slab."
http://goccf.com/t/346174#2967242

And here is a great read on the reality of slabbing companies at the start:
http://goccf.com/t/130186

One in a while coins from either a collection, coin store robbery, etc. get into change. Then if and when you find one or more, you end up with a coin of possibly a high grade if not already gone through to much circulating.