Help building a grading set

Blade

I am looking to put together a PCGS slabbed grading set in Buffalo nickels. I think this will be an interesting challenge, will test my grading skills and give me valuable insight into how PCGS grades Buffs.

Do you have a grading set for your series of interest?
If so, is it raw or slabbed?
If slabbed, did you buy existing slabbed coins or test your skills finding raw coins and submitting them?
Did you build it for the same date?

I think I am going to attempt to find all of these raw and submit them myself. I'm going to adopt a "3 strinkes and out rule" such that if I miss a grade 3 times, I'll try to find it slabbed.

Also, regarding my 4th questions about build a set for the same date; I see advantages and disadvantages. Advantages are that I can negate some variabilities like strike differences (mostly) and I think it would be cooler to have them all the same. A key disadvantage is that I would be tossing away a lot of $$$. For example, I would choose a common date like 38-D so I could find and afford the high-end 67s and maybe 68s. But any coin below MS would be worth very little. If I chose different dates, I could target a value (say $100) for each coin and buy the better dates down to good. That way I have residual value in the coins and could use this as a base for my collection.

All throughts welcome! I have never done this and it looks like a fun way to learn.

ccr

Thats what I`m currently trying to do with Peace Dollars and basicly for the same reasons. I`m not submitting them, I`m buying them already slabbed. My lowest graded slabbed is a `34-s in VF25 and highest grade is a `22 in MS65. So I think I`ll stick to that range and go from there.




Edit to note that I have a `34-s in VF25 not `34 Philly Mint.

UncleJoe

Buffalo nickels IMO are very difficult to build a single grading set. ie. a Fine in the early years looks different than a Fine in the later years. The date and LIBERTY are not as distinct.

And if you want to start a war, just ask for some thoughts on VF as having a full horn. You will get many answers to include that a lot of the middle years branch mints were so poorly struck that it may not be necessary for a VF to have a full horn.

Buffalo nickels almost need three grading sets, one for the teens, twenties and thirties.

Joe.

presleyh

Time and money versus buying them already slabbed. Thats the boiled down version in my opinion. Each submission takes 4 to 6 weeks to prepare, ship and receive back. Each time you don't make your tarket grade costs you at least $30.00 in grading fees per coin. Then you will have a considerable set of coins that don't fit into your set. If you submit three '38s and they all come back au58, what will you do with the extra coins? I seem to be pretty good at submitting ms64 Ike dollars. I WANT at least ms 65 Ike dollars. It would cost me less time and money to buy them already slabbed.

BillJones

One of the problems with SLABBED circulated coins is that they are often overgraded. The best way to learn to grade circulated coins is to buy the ANA grading guide, study it and then look at many many coins.

ccr

<< <i>One of the problems with SLABBED circulated coins is that they are often overgraded. >>



I never thought about it like that. Getting a ANA grading guide is something I probabily should do.

MAULUMALL

I don't know if this Qualifies but I put together a set of 1995 DDO Lincoln cents,ms66,ms67& ms68 in both PCGS and NGC.
From what I saw in the set I was able to make 4 more ms 68's.

meos1

Thats a great idea. I want to pull together a SAE set and and thought that the challenge of lower grade pieces would be interesting. I like the idea about learning grading, and the grades assigned by a grading service. Nice project focus, Thanks!

Best regards,

Dan Watson

BillJones

My advice is don't get slab company dependent when it comes to grading. They are not always right. Don't lower or distort your standards. Buy the ANA guide, buy a roll of wheat cents, compare the grading descriptionsand photos, and build your own grading set for a lot less money. If you belong to club or know a trusted dealer work with them to critique your observations.

You learn to grade through study and looking at many, many coins.

Blade

Bill,
Great advice. I have the ANA grading standards book from 1977 that I bought in 1980. Hopefully it hasn't changed much, but on the Buffs the high grades described are AU50, AU55, MS60, MS65 and MS 70 (as if that's gonna exist). I thought slabbed would be cool, but agree that the different strike qualities would make it tough to collect a single date. After all, I don't think I just want to be the best grader of 1938-D Buffalo nickels! Would be just as fun and a whole lot less expensive to build a set unslabbed.

Tom