As much as I hate the thought slabbed coins are becoming the norm in the coin business. Raw coins are treated as "junk" and usually will sell at a steep discount to book value. High quality slabbed coins are the opposite. They bring the premiums.
Part of the problem is that too many people who collect coins do not know how to grade. Therefore they trust in the third party graders to do it for them. The price being paid for these slabbed coins also includes the price of the plastic holders and the time of two or more professional graders giving their opinion.
Additionally if you have graded coins you now have "bragging rights" by being able to show friends, family and of course the world in general what neat coins you have. The registry program is another benefit of having slabbed coins. You can now compete with other collectors.
Personally I prefer to build nice sets using my own experience in buying raw coins and grading them myself. After another 25 years I may take the finest examples I have acquired in my lifetime and spend the money on grading them but that remains to be seen.
It is a fact that customers want to "know" what they are buying because it is so much easier to let someone else do the work for them. This is why inferior coins can be sold at inflated prices based on inflated grading. I preach BUY THE COIN, NOT THE CONTAINER but that does not change the fact that a lot of folks still buy plastic holders instead of beautiful coins.
As far as modern coins are concerned there are some "rarities" and I use that term loosely.
Kennedy half dollars are a good example as the more modern pieces are limited to a few million or less and the silver proofs usually have less than a million. This limits the amount of complete sets that can be built. Commemorative half dollars are another example. For those of you investing in modern coins for the long haul concentrate on the lower mintage stuff after you have built a few sets for yourself and your heirs.
As for the coins that grade ms or proof 70 by pcgs or ngc these truly are rare so the prices paid for these coins reflect this. Many things have to go "perfect" in order for a coin to avoid damage and look superb. This is fairly easy for modern proof coins though. The method of production for circulating coins on the other hand prevents almost all coins from ever reaching the grade of mint state 68 or better. This is why we call it "cherrypicking". Only by looking at tens of thousands (not kidding here) of coins can you begin to really identify the little "extras" that seperate trash from treasure. Remember the other rule I preach. BUY QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY. Sincerely, John Leckrone
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Posted 08/11/2010 12:08 am
