Things to NOT miss from the pre-Slab days....
lsica
Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭
1) "Commercial BU" graded coins...
Philately will get you nowhere....
1
lsica
Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭
Comments
Counterfeits
Overgraded coins
Problem coins---tooling, artificial toning, cleaning, etc.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Buy as VF ... Sell as XF, etc. It was how money was made and probably still is.
1- Counterfeits are much more prevalent today.
The counterfeits of the 'pre-slab' days were many times contemporary and some of those
have more value than their original mint-made counterparts.
2- Overgrading has always been an issue it is just more refined today.
3- Problem coins such as tooling and artificial toning and cleaning are also just as available today as back
in the 60s; 70s and 80s.
Still happening today whether the coin is slabbed or not.
peacockcoins
Dusty 2x2 cardboard holders
Dave
Maybe so, but what you do see less of (or you're at least able to avoid more easily) are ALTERED coins. Not every removed mint mark can be determined by the 10x loupe in your pocket.
If we're talking about just top-tier slabbed coins, what we ARE avoiding is INTENTIONAL overgrading, Sure there may be plenty of (if just a tiny percent of) MS65 coins in holders that IMHO or IYHO should be MS64, MS63 or even less. But I doubt highly that anyone at the grading tables gave the coin that grade while twisting their waxed moustache and exclaiming a loud "bwah ha ha!"
Available? Sure. Pop a bag of popcorn and sit with it while searching eBay looking around for such things for some fun. But again if we're just talking about top-tier slabbed coins the number of problem coins not labeled as such is very very small,
Well, yeah, I can buy a VF coin and try to sell it as an MS70 1804 dollar if I want to. But a slab label that disagrees with that makes it much more difficult to do
Especially if we don't include ASEs
I mentioned this is a previous post but without slabs I had what I thought was a large coin dealer send me damaged coins. Then accused ME of being the crook and refused to return money or take coins back. Without slabs it is easy to find yourself in a he said/she said dispute. If you are the collector you have a big disadvantage right from the start. James
Counterfeit US gold coins were very prevalent back in the day.
Many were excellent quality, and almost all were full weight and gold content.
I’m pretty sure that there were more counterfeit $3 gold around in the 1970s than real ones.
30+ years coin shop experience (ret.) Coins, bullion, currency, scrap & interesting folks. Loved every minute!
Slabs have transformed the hobby in many very positive ways. I had to be exponentially more wary pre-slab. The old “just learn how to grade” adage was nonsense if a collector thought they could avoid being ripped off by looking at a few hundred coins and reading books. Selling was tough work for collectors without good connections.
More counterfeits now than then, more inflated grades now than then and much more ignorance now than then. Slabs make nice storage and normally provide some security as to coin condition and authenticity. They are not a panacea, and behind smart about what you sell or buy is even more important now than forty plus years ago. And yes, I was collecting nearly fifty years ago. The hobby is enjoyable today as it was back then, just use your smarts.
I was not collecting 50 years ago but it seems nearly universally reported that it was much more difficult to buy intelligently, especially for new collectors or YT, in the pre-slab days. I can't count how many times I have read here that somebody bought an Unc coin and then went back to sell it and suddenly it was AU, or cleaned, or fake. With holdered and graded coins that issue is nearly completely eliminated (with the exception of the odd mis-graded coin or someone overpaying out of ignorance).
Do you honestly think it is more important to buy smart nowadays with graded & authenticated coins and a wealth of online information and price guides vs decades ago with way less available info, no consumer friendly price guides, and raw problem coins constantly upsold to unsuspecting collectors?
Chopmarked Trade Dollar Registry Set --- US & World Gold Showcase --- World Chopmark Showcase
Slab coins didn't change much for me, as Ebay came along and virtually guaranteed everything you bought as genuine and satifactory. Before ebay and, I guess, slab coins, I never would have bought a coin without holding it in my hands.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
I’ve been a collector for 70 years and the only justification for the “more important” view might be the dollars at risk, even adjusting for inflation. However, on balance collectors of all grades have benefitted from the enumerated advances, most of which tie in with the advent of slabs. The amount of larceny in the “good old days” was incredible. The same I’m sure has been true in other worlds of collectibles prior to professional authentication and grading - sports memorabilia, currency, stamps, comic books.