Genuine/Details Slabs and Impact of Pricing

Higashiyama

Has slabbing by PCGS and NGC of genuine/details coins changed (improved) the pricing of these coins?

I have not done any real analysis, but it seems that coins with slight problems (eg, a light old cleaning or perhaps a well hidden scratch) sell for more now that they would have when they would otherwise be raw or in an ANACS slab. Perhaps even fairly severely impaired but genuine coins sell for relatively more now that they did previously,

If true, this seems to be a good trend. It seems natural to have less of a discontinuity in price between slightly impaired coins and their more pristine siblings than seemed to exist 20 years ago.

MFeld

Definitely. I believe that overall, the major grading companies have helped the value of problem coins immensely. Many of them appear to trade much closer to the price of straight grade coins than they otherwise would.

amwldcoin

Hmmmm, from what I have seen coins sell for more if freed from a problem holder even with the problem accurately described and pictured. Perhaps there is the inherent hope the problem doesn't exist?

ricko

Although the price difference does seem to be narrowing, there are collectors who want to add a coin and tolerate a slight problem with reduced cost. Cheers, RickO

Walkerguy21D

@MFeld said:
Definitely. I believe that overall, the major grading companies have helped the value of problem coins immensely. Many of them appear to trade much closer to the price of straight grade coins than they otherwise would.

I will trust Mark's judgment on the overall market, but my own observations on early large cents definitely bear this out. Now, there has always been a market for early copper with problems anyway, as so few choice examples are around. But tracking a number of coins on Heritage in NGC and PCGS 'genny' slabs recently, I was very surprised at the strong prices they brought. And for the most part, these were generic Sheldon varieties, 1793 - 1814, without pedigrees, just relatively decent examples of date and type coins, for what they were.

I realize this flies in the face of many, as well as the perception that eac is in a melt down/death spiral, but the results are what they are.

jmlanzaf

@Walkerguy21D said:

@MFeld said:
Definitely. I believe that overall, the major grading companies have helped the value of problem coins immensely. Many of them appear to trade much closer to the price of straight grade coins than they otherwise would.

I will trust Mark's judgment on the overall market, but my own observations on early large cents definitely bear this out. Now, there has always been a market for early copper with problems anyway, as so few choice examples are around. But tracking a number of coins on Heritage in NGC and PCGS 'genny' slabs recently, I was very surprised at the strong prices they brought. And for the most part, these were generic Sheldon varieties, 1793 - 1814, without pedigrees, just relatively decent examples of date and type coins, for what they were.

I realize this flies in the face of many, as well as the perception that eac is in a melt down/death spiral, but the results are what they are.

I think the attitude - recently expressed on another thread - about the horrors of "details" coins is more driven by people who bought them for full money not realizing they had issues and then having to dump them at a loss after they got the "details" grade back.

I think that you are right about EAC. The price gap seems smaller in that venue. Environmental damage is so common on EAC coins that it is readily tolerated in that market.

But there has always been a market for cleaned/dipped silver as well. Early silver dollars and halves are so commonly dipped that they straight grade despite the old dipping.

ambro51

i know for a fact a lot of “Genuine” slabbed State coppers become “Raw” again, shedding a problem label and living happily thereafter in a little cloth bag in a 2x2 envelope.