What Are Your Thoughts On Collecting PCGS Graded Coins?

Just thoughts for you to consider as you begin collecting which might help. What is the purpose of your collection? Mine is personal so I'm not concern with re-sale.

Buy reference books first, then the coins especially the one's devoted to your series of collecting. If US, you should have Red Book and Photograde. Rustyboy was correct in buying the coin first and foremost.

One last thought to consider is how you will store, display, or just enjoy looking at them. I you want an album type collection, that makes a difference. Everyone makes mistakes, just learn from them.

Terrell

I usually do recommend that new collectors either start out buying low grade coins and learning how to grade and authenticate themselves or if they are buying higher graded coins or coins that are copied very heavily (like Trade dollars) to go with a top TPG at first until they are comfortable grading/authenticating themselves because it can stop hundreds or even thousands of dollar mistakes. Yes the graders are human and grading is subjective but at least you have a professionals opinion on what the coins are which have had years of experience. once you get comfortable with the series it is perfectly fine to buy raw but through the years of being on a coin forum it is really heart breaking when a person has bought a coin they thought would be their retirement or they have spent their whole retirement on basement slabs or counterfeit coins trying to have something nice to leave their heirs and also something they could enjoy themselves while they are still alive. I have been collecting for awhile now and there are still some series of coins that I will not touch raw. It is not only the counterfeit coins that matters either it is also the problems coins can acquire in their life time and until you are comfortable with determining what is acceptable to you and if the coin has been through something that will drop its value considerably then a top TPG has its value. I am not saying not to buy a coin that has problems but just be sure you don't get taken by paying problem free prices for a coin that has problems that would drop its value if you come to a time when you have to sell and you lose your shirt because you paid to much for the coin when you bought it

How many MS70 coins do you have?

There's nothing wrong with buying only graded coins. However, you'll pay a premium in most cases. Your goal should be to pick a series and then study the heck out of it. Learn how to grade your series pick by studying graded coins, ha.com is a great place to do that.

I like buying raw, nothing like finding a coin that a dealer has under-graded. It's my passion to seek those coins out. My last one was a 1909-S that the dealer called AU. I bought it at about AU-55 CDN price, sent it NGC and it came back MS-62.

Bottomline: When you get good at this, you don't need to buy graded coins. You'll be the guy getting them graded.

That's fine if you want to do that. Many people prefer PCGS & NGC for their expertise and marketability and they are the top TPG.

Don't overlook ANACS and ICG though. They are good TPG that do fine work and coins in these slabs often trade for little more money than raw coins.

Certainly buy some reference books and don't worry about coins costing under $10 or $20 being slabbed. There are many very nice coins available for under $20 that will rarely be in a slab due to the certification cost. Buy a few of them and have some fun without spending a lot of money.

That's good advice. If you're buying normal coins that don't have very high value, most of the time raw is fine, especially if you stick to dealers you know. Like BadThad said, study one series, and eventually you'll be good enough at grading so that you can feel comfortable buying raw. Not that I'm saying don't buy slabs, certified coins are good if you're buying a coin from a heavily counterfeited series or something that has high value.

To me,the fun of collecting is"finding" the coins myself. It really depends on WHY you are collecting. For investment,graded coins make sense,for fun, their cost is too high in my opinion. My entire collection has come from roll searching and several of my coins are worth in excess of $100 but I acquired them at face by taking the time and effort to find them. I guess what I am trying to say is,many people new to this hobby think you can only get great coins through dealers and shows but there are many roll searchers in this forum that have extensive, high quality collections almost entirely from roll searching. You may want to try some buying and some treasure hunting(roll searching) and see what you enjoy the most and which gives you the greater satisfaction when you look at the collection you have compiled. I wish you the best of luck whatever you choose,most of all ,enjoy the journey!