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

I usually either buy coins that are graded or I get them graded once I get them but I usually only collect different varieties that I need to finish my sets. The only way I crack out a coin is if its for one of my albums then I will crack them out of the slabs (if applicable) and place it in the folder. The few coins I do have that aren't worth grading (the ones for nop particular set, I just liked them so I bought them) I keep in airtites or coinedge holders. So actually I guess I could fit in either category but the ones I like the most are the coins in the slabs, they are also the ones worth the most

I have mostly raw coins many handed down from my grandmother I have nothing against certified coins. I only buy certified collector grade coins online in an attempt to keep from getting ripped off.

No.....not for me, (that I'm aware of) but I suspect that could happen with just about ANY avenue of coin purchasing.
And I bet there's also a high percentage of people who "got took", then try to pass it off to somebody else to recoup their mistake ! (so they don't take the hit or the loss)
Honesty and integrity may be growing less and less with MAKING MONEY becoming more and more of a priority.
Asian countries are making A BUNCH of all kinds of counterfeits !
And they will come/already are here....
Buyer beware and self-education just becomes more and more vital as the years go by.

People collect coins for many reasons. I buy mostly slabbed coins, but I treasure my complete circulated Walker set that are all raw, and I designed a special display to keep them relatively safe. This set started when I was 10 or so. It was interrupted briefly by adolescence and young adulthood, but is now finished. I upgrade the coins from time to time, and when I do, the coins are always raw.

The thing that I think it's important to emphasize is that it doesn't have to be one or the other. People who are able to buy expensive coins are capable of caring about their quality and beauty as well as their ability to retain value . Of course, there are the people who think that they are the only TRUE collectors, and don't mind bragging about that in every post. Frankly, if I was collecting pennies from change, I wouldn't have them slabbed. But I've been there and done that. And if I ever get the opportunity to buy a Chain Cent, it will almost certainly be in a slab. And I will never again put a coin in a Dansco album for reasons described below.

Since I started expanding the perimeters of my type set beyond the Canon of the Dansco 7070, many of the coins I have acquired in the last couple of years are too expensive to be unsure of what the market will bear should I decide to sell them - to upgrade for example, or to avert catastrophe, or even to buy my son a new car on his 30th birthday.

I started my typeset raw in a Dansco 7070 album. First of all, the many of the coins toned from being in the album. One Jeff acquired an attractive toning, but a Red Gem cent that I had turned into a RB cent during its time in that album, and a bright white silver quarter has become grey and unattractively toned. This happened in my Statehood Quarter collection too.

Second, when you start acquiring things like 1837 No Stars half-dimes, or 1794 Liberty cap cents, the grading is subtler, and quite frankly, if I have to shell out $1,000 or more to get a pretty coin, I want some guarantee that I didn't throw my money at a 15 that turned out to be a 6, or worse a fake or doctored coin. I am beginning to know a lot about these coins, but there are subtleties on some that I don't know to look for. I got a coin a couple of years ago raw that was just gorgeous. My local coin dealer - Stack's - thought so too. Too gorgeous as it turned out - it was ultimately discovered to be whizzed. This became apparent after its tone had changed considerably from its tenure in a Dansco album. Very skillfully whizzed, but whizzed nonetheless.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the appeal of raw coins and the drawbacks of slabbed coins. I'd much rather look at my Sheldon 31 (Breen 13) without the plastic. But if it had not been in the plastic, I probably wouldn't have bought it unless it had been from an extremely trusted source (not Stack's) and I certainly wouldn't have payed what I payed for it.

Then of course there's the issue of safety. If you have nice collector coins, you don't really own them so much as act as their caretakers while they are in your hands. Some of these coins might be important historically as artifacts. I don't want to take the chance of dropping it on the floor and rolling over it with my desk chair. I'm a very careful person, but in the words of an unlamented former secretary of defense, "stuff happens."

No slabs, don't care for slabs, don't look for or at them when at coin shows. Don't buy them and probably never will, don't want them. If I ever get to where I need a coin and a slab is my only option. It's coming out of the slab.

my collection is raw, as well. I have bought a few slabbed coins, but that was just because that is what was available in the higher grade that I wanted. And yes, I did set them free. It does give me a little peace of mind, like on my LHC 1922 no d, to have it authenticated before it goes in my Dansco album.

Raw for me.

Slab grading seems to be disputed as much as raw, so that part of slabbing seems a bit pointless.

The other reason to buy slabbed is to prove genuine. This has more merit with US coins than world coins I feel, and since I collect world coins...

I don't have to worry too much about being taken for a ride as I don't collect expensive coins. I know that even low value coins are sometimes counterfeited but I am not going to lose much money if I pick up the odd dud.

In fact I find them quite interesting in their own right. Plus even the TPGs have been caught out with fakes so who is to say there is any guarantee.

If I bought a coin in a slab I'd be grabbing the dremel, asap.

Both, on rare or key dates I like them slabbed. You can get them for the same price as raw. I like to look for coins at shows and usually buy raw as I trust my dealers there and like to spend the time looking. But if it is not someone I know, I feel better that it comes from a reputable grading company. I do not like what they have done by creating a secondary market for tough coins already up there in price, but creating a value due to a population of 4 known is a bit absurd. If all the good raw uncs got sent in, there might be a drop in slabbed values and our raw coins get more respect. But, almost got bit by an ebay deal that when questioned more than one time the seller finally admitted that the toning was not the reason the coins where sent back to him in a body bag, but the altered mint marks and dates had been lasered in. So, it is a gamble...and to boot, the Chinese are making fake slabs...what next?

Alan