Slabbed Coins <(:^:)> Raw Coins?

I've started to upgrade completed sets, starting with keys and others that are not up to the quality of the others in the set and will be doing so using slabbed coins.

For example, my BU Jefferson is complete but I don't like the 1938-D, or the 1941 series or the 1942. I went to a coin show and the dealer wanted $22.50 for each of the 1941 series, ebay they just sold for $40 and I can get all in MS65/66 5 FS slabbed for $50, just makes sense.

Same with the Roosevelt's in BU, I upgraded the 1996W from an MS63 to MS68 slabbed for $5 more than the raw and will be doing the same for the 1949, 1949-S & 1950-S.

I view the keys as the investment grade and slabbed makes it easier to dispose of.

I have no plastic things in my collection. I have purchased some slabbed coins as most people have done but I then break them out and put in Albums. I do keep the little tags from the slabs and tape them to the inside of the Album the coin is in. But no plastic slabs at all. And at coin shows if a dealer starts to tell me a coin is so expensive since it is in a slab, I walk away.

You mean how big of a WARE-House you'll need........

ooooh baby I like it RAW! Unless they are my very very expensive coins then slabbed but prefer my 90% RAW

I much prefer raw. So do the dealers I frequent! Less overhead, shelf space, shipping to TPGS hassles, waits, etc.

There is that catch that expensive key coins are likely to be slabbed, unless it's on a regular customer's 'want list' and they can sell it to that customer right away (and avoid all the TPGS overhead/waiting).

Some of the slabbed coins (particularly ANACS) were likely sold to the dealer in the slabs.

I also prefer "OGP" (original government packaging) to slabs. In the case of a GSA CC Morgan, I think that the OGP itself is part of the coin's history! (NGC agrees...) I know a man who has an intact 1971 Proof Set with the "No-S" Nickel, who has refused my offers to buy said set, but one thing we agree on is that the Set should be kept intact in the OGP!

It appears from these replies that most like raw coins. However, at coin shows I would estimate that at least 30 ot 40 % of all coins are in slabs lately. Of course that does show that more and more people are becoming worried about all the fakes now appearing.

I collect mostly Lincoln cents so it is not economical to get most of them slabbed, it would be more than the value of the coin. I did find a 1999 Wide AM in AU condition worth about $125 graded and slabbed. Most folks I have talked to think I could sell it for $75 raw so even that coin isn't really worth slabbing if you do the math.