Certified Or Uncertified

If you are advanced enough in the hobby and you feel good about your ability to grade coins and detect altered toning/surfaces then you shouldn't be limited to buying just slabbed coins. On the same note a slabbed coin shouldn't detract you unless you're paying too much for the service; you can always crack them out. One nice thing about slabs, is that they offer a degree of protection while you own the coin, and may make the coin slightly more liquid able when it comes time to sell. (If they are slabbed by a reputable TPGS) Recently at a larger show in Minneapolis, I saw allot of coins floating around in lower tiered holders. The people with these coins were having a hard time selling them, as most of the dealers including me passed on them.

I go for raw coins but it dont hurt to have a nice slabbed coin every now n then. I prefer them raw though do to the fact I like to look at my coin not at the plastic and if the slab gets a scratch it makes it harder to enjoy the pure beauty of the coin :)

I only buy slabbed coins, the reason is because I am still learning how to grade and the fact that I do most of my purchases online. You cant realy tell what the coin actually looks like in a picture so slabbed coins just seem to be the best thing for me as long as its one of the top3 slabs. I usually will not buy anything not in a NGC,PCGS or ANACS slab for the same reason of my grading skills and most of the other slabs companies coins are overgraded and I have a hard time telling which ones are overgraded by pictures. Of course I usually crossover any ANACS coins I buy for no other reason but because I try to compete in the registry on collectors society and they only allow PCGS and NGC coins in there at the moment. That is if the coin is something I needed to fill a slot, if its just a coin I got a good deal on and do not need it I will just leave it in the ANACS slab

I have mixed feelings on the subject. It is much cheaper to buy "raw" if you will, but if you are not good at "grading" or "detecting whether coin(s) has been cleaned or whizzed" or "tampered" with, then slabbed by one of the top 3 TPGs is the way to go.
Early on in my quest to collect $20 Gold Saints, I got burnt thrice. 2 were cleaned and one was severely whizzed, which shocked the hell outa me when ngc & pcgs returned them in a BB. Needless to say, nowadays before I bid on a "raw" coin I ask, "Has this coin ever been cleaned AND/OR whizzed? Depending on answer will determine my next move.
Now if it is slabbed by say NGC, PCGS, ANACS & even some ICG's you can "assume" with high certainty that these coins were not "tampered" with--EVEN that is no guarantee, BUT as long as it stays in the slab you can assume, plus its guaranteed by slabber. So there, which do I preferr you ask? I do and have done both. Initially I started out raw, but as I got burnt, I leaned more to slabs--EVEN so, I have purchased both--And continue to buy raw and slab as I see fit. Of course I have now taught myself "How to detect cleaned coins, Althought I can tell ya, I am now dam good at detecting "whizzed" coins---hehe--

Raw but only because I mostly collect military tokens that are not expensive enough for anyone to counterfeit and not popular enough for TPGs to pollute with their grading. If I were to start collecting the more expensive coins again I would probably buy ANACS slabs from the start for the authentication. I don't have a lot of confidence in collectors, including myself, authenticating coins. I'd rather just pay the extra bucks for the peace of mind. If TPG's bought back authentication *only* certificates--(I have no need or desire for their grading opinions) I'd probably start collecting coins again. But they probably won't and I'll probably hate slabs for the rest of my life.

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"One day, one night, came a Cadillac, four headlights,
Came a man with a big long fat cigar, he said 'Come
here son, I'm going to make you a star.'

"and Bo Diddley said... 'Uh, what's in it for me?..'
Story of Bo Diddley
The Animals
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interesting thoughts on the subject . I do feel confident about my grading ability and knowledge. but see thats the problem for me any way iam so spread out that no matter how much I do know there is ten times more yet to learn. I prefer raw as well because I look at it with a loop, deepending on what it is see if there is a cart wheel, or DD so on and so forth. I actuall dont trust the grading companies either.