To Slab, Or Not To Slab

If I buy "sight-unseen" (i.e., ebay), I will only buy certified coins from the the likes of PCGS, NGC, ANACS, ICG and sometimes SEGS and PCI (for them, I minus 2-3 MS grading points). At the very minimum, I know what I am getting...hence to your comment about security.

Even if I have the coin in hand, I will not buy a key date coin like a 1916-D Merc or 1909-S VDB or a 1955 1c DDO UNLESS it is certified and authenticated by the likes of the top four. I have seen just too many excellent counterfeits circulating the show floors and the likes of internet auction houses like ebay.

Fact of the matter, I will never buy raw coins on line again, ever! MS really means AU and EF40 really means VF20. Not all of the time, but the vast majority of it. Even the best of eyes can be fooled, and all it takes is one time to sour your interest in this hobby.

I also like buying and slabbing my coins for the purpose of liquidity and quick selling. I can easily sell my 1909-S VDB graded by PCGS at MS63BN in hours compared to if I called a dealer and told him I had the same coin raw. That dealer may tell me it is a MS61BN, not 63BN, and there lies the problem...grading opinions differ and will always be subjective.

Of course if he bought that same coin from me as a 61BN, he may try to sell it as a 63BN later. It is NOT my opinion, nor the seller, nor the buyer, but the opinion of a reputible grading service in question. You may or may not agree with the grade, but the market has demonstrated and proved that a coin graded and authenticated by _____ grading service is worth way more than if you stated it yourself. Why? Peace of mind (security) from the buyer knowing what he or she is buying is the real deal. All things being equal, that makes coin A more valuable than coin B for the same coin, in the same grade. After all, you know what "trust me" translates to?

Last but not least, I like how slabs protect and present my coins. I like ICG's slab with the Intercept Shield protection. I know that all things being equal (there's that phrase again), my red Lincolns will stay red compared to if they were stored in a flip or 2x2.

There are many that will argue that slabbing has taken away from coin collecting and made it a business. Maybe they are right, but let me tell you faced to face. Those are the same people that will try to sell you a Morgan graded by themselves as a MS65 and later on will buy it back from you as a MS63.

Not everybody of course! But more people than the "honest" dealers and sellers of rare coins.

As for submitting coins for slabbing/authentication. I have and would submit only key date coins and those coins in high MS conditions. It is not worth it to slab a MS63 common date Morgan, but if it were a MS65, than maybe it is worth it. Figure the cost of submission (around $20 to $30 per coin) plus S&H and see if it is really worth the cost of slabbing.

I buy only what I can hold in my hand first, unless it's a bulk deal of rolls or bags and doesn't matter. No exceptions. All single coin purchases sit in my hand before I pay. I won't use ebay or any other gambling site to buy coins. Too much junk and not enough honest people who have a clue about what they are doing.

Given that, I do not need a holder to tell me what a coin is, I grade it myself. I authenticate it myself. I can do this with confidence because I have spent years gaining experience doing it. I have learned by looking at thousands - tens of thousands of coins.

So when it comes time to purchase, I don't care what kind of holder the coin is in, or whether it's even in a holder. I will pay the same amount for a given coin regardless of what it's in. If there is a premium for the holder, they can keep it...and I find that quite frequently there is a premium for the holder.

I personal Like unslabed coins, the main reason is it fits in a album, also that is the way the coin are supost to be raw just like the way it comes form the mint.
of cousre I might feel a lot different if I was buying to sell, not buying becuause I collect coins, or if I had a coin that had the value worth slabing, since I don't think a mondern coin have the value or any reason to slab them

Thanks for the link Zakgold. I will watch it over the weekend. Some of our Members attended the forum. I wonder if we will see them in the crowd? Mike

I have not seen coins outside of the USA being slabbed. But I'm sure it must happen but on a much smaller scale.

Really if you can't tell the condition of the coin yourself, should you be paying a high price for it? And if you can tell the condition of the coin, why bother slabbing it? I'm sure someone will give me a good reason.

My understanding of slabbing is that it's for an investor without any knowledge of coins. He doesn't need to know how to grade a coin, just the buy and sell prices.

Still, they do look well protected inside their plastic prison.