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Buy slabs only!!!!

TwowoodTwowood Posts: 518 ✭
in U.S. Coin Forum
Boy am I pissed!
Awhile back I bought several Peace Dollars from a "Reputable "dealer as lower end MS coins. Just got them back...bagged. Cleaned!
Back they go tomorrow.It's slabbed coins ONLY for me from now on and as for dealers...I'll stick to ebay and buy slabs.
I guess it's my own fault cause,at this stage of my life,I should be able to recognize a cleaned coin when I see one. Twowood image

Comments

  • Cam40Cam40 Posts: 8,146 ✭
    Sorry to hear about the expensive grading lesson there 2.

    I have a few coins like this. BU at first glance but after further examination......EeGads!!!

    Its hard to see the rub or that tiny bit of wear right off so I try to go by the degree of original mint luster
    that I can perceive of anyway. That area of the condition is usually overlook by the dealer sometimes.


  • ms71ms71 Posts: 1,546 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That's the main reason to buy slabs for me, not the grading. The "doctors" just get better and better. A slab is cheap insurance.
    Successful BST transactions: EagleEye, Christos, Proofmorgan,
    Coinlearner, Ahrensdad, Nolawyer, RG, coinlieutenant, Yorkshireman, lordmarcovan, Soldi, masscrew, JimTyler, Relaxn, jclovescoins

    Now listen boy, I'm tryin' to teach you sumthin' . . . . that ain't no optical illusion, it only looks like an optical illusion.

    My mind reader refuses to charge me....
  • paigowjohnnypaigowjohnny Posts: 4,257 ✭
    I feel your pain....

    Currently upgrading several "BU/sliders" in my raw Walker set....buying relatively cheap slabs and cracking them for the album.

    My big ticket Morgans are now all slab buys and stay there.
  • CoppernicusCoppernicus Posts: 1,764 ✭
    Every time I buy a raw coin, I get very nervous. I guess I don't trust my grading skills. Of course, I also get nervous when I buy a slabbed coin sight unseen. Only really feel comfortable buying NGC or PCGS slabs that I'm holding in my hand in a series I know .
    Coppernicus

    Lincoln Wheats (1909 - 1958) Basic Set - Always Interested in Upgrading!
  • StEligiusStEligius Posts: 15
    image If you have looked over millions of coins you become overeager at the moment of buying and sometimes do not look as hard! Take the time to loupe all coins is my motto. I have yet to get stung in that trap but I see others loose sight of the coin due to a great price! If the dealer prices low look harder. I wish you the best of luck! Buying slabs presents it own set of problems as I have seen coins in the wrong holders by grade date and mintmark! Use your eye your brain and your pocketbook wisely!
  • OuthaulOuthaul Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is precisely why I NEVER buy raw coins on eBay. Do the math:

    Winning Bid: $100.00
    Shipping: 5.00
    Insurance: 2.30
    TOTAL $107.30

    Then the POS raw coin arrives and you say "What the HELL did I do this for?!

    Padded Envelope: $1.50
    Shipping: 2.00
    Insurance: 2.30
    TOTAL: $5.80

    Plus original ship: $7.30

    TOTAL: $13.10

    That's right...thirteen bucks plus aggravation just to look at some overgrading sleazebay scumbag's $hit coin. You could go to your local and get a couple nice slider Morgans for that.

    Raw coins on eBay suck.

    Just my opinion.

    Cheers,

    Bob
  • StEligiusStEligius Posts: 15
    imageBuy on EBAY you get what yopu deserve! A good deal is just that for a seller!!!! The sellers dump junk it is like buying on TV!
  • dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭
    did you like the coin before slabing it?

    K S
  • RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭
    HMM...I bought this coin on eBay:

    image

    It's now graded PCGS PR68DCAM, one of only 8 that have ever been graded that high.

    Russ, NCNE
    eBay consignment sales | | Collectibles from Resco CCC
  • jonesyjonesy Posts: 5,031
    After a few body bags of my own, I've come to a conclusion. Don't buy a coin that doesn't seem right to you. If you don't feel right about it, don't take it. This advice is to experienced collectors only. If you have no or little experience in coins, buy some differently graded coins and a few slabs. While you do this, post the collectors in this forum which book to get so you can research the coins you have interest in. Take at least a year reading up on the coin(s) you want to collect. When you have some experience, try to gain some raw coins. If you get body bags from PCGS, you may need to do more research. To be safe, you may want to buy graded slabs from PCGS. The point is, you can normally buy raw coins cheaper than slabs. If not get them in PCGS slabs. image
    Glenn
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,662 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I guess it's my own fault cause,at this stage of my life,I should be able to recognize a cleaned coin when I see one. >>



    Don't be so sure.

    Embarrassing confession time: I've been a collector and/or small dealer for about 27 years, and still get fooled. Often.

    A discreet cleaning or AT job will usually slip right past me.

    This is why I do insist on reputable slabs for more expensive U.S. coins, when possible. For world coins, or coins I plan to put in a Dansco album, or something like that, I really don't care that much. A light cleaning doesn't bother me. Some kinds of early coins are almost always found cleaned.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭
    There's nothing wrong w/Ebay as long as you're selective. I probably bid on 1 in 50 coins I look at. If I don't like the look of the coin, I pass. If it's a lousy picture, and the seller doesn't email me a better one after my request I pass. If I don't like the seller's feedback, I pass. In several hundred Ebay buys, I've never gotten burned, I've only returned two (one of which was slabbed), and been satisfied with the rest.
  • coinkatcoinkat Posts: 23,460 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Buying slabs only is a viable approach... I tend to buy at shows because I like seeing what I buy before I buy it. Is this fool proof and do I make mistakes? Yes... but I know that I have made fewer mistakes than if I bought on a sight/unseen basis. Collect for fun and don't let anyone take the fun out of collecting.

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

  • OuthaulOuthaul Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Well stated, coinkat.
  • Conder101Conder101 Posts: 10,536 ✭
    Right only buy slabs because that way you know you'll never have any worries. Because we all know that the services would never ever slab a mis-graded coin, or a cleaned one or an AT one. Nor would they ever body bag a coin that doesn't deserve it. And we know that they are totally consistant (They don't make mistakes after all.)so a bodybagged coin would never ever manage to get into a slab if it was resubmitted.
  • OuthaulOuthaul Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Michael,

    I don't think I advocated slabs only, only that your chances on eBay were better with graded material rather than raw. I have only ever returned one slabbed coin and MANY raw. The postage begins to run quite high when you return a few coins per month. No matter how good your eye is, it's tough to grade by a picture.

    I buy my raw stuff at shows, shops, etc.

    However, now that I've re-read 2's original post, it would appear that he's pissed about a purchase he made from a dealer in person. Hey 2...would you like to clarify?

    Cheers,

    Bob
  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,310 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I concur with Lord M. While slabs aren't fault free, their track record is better than 99% of anyone here. I also continue to make mistakes with raw coins and nothing ticks me off more. Buy coins you like in slabs. Or buy coins in slabs that you like from dealers you trust. Anything else has increased risk regardless of how sharp the collector thinks he is. Also true for many dealers too. I recently bought 3 ANACs slabs that I felt were no brainers and ultra nice for the grade. None would cross from NGC and they came back AT, altered surfaces, and stained. While NGC is not always right they've seen more than I have. Fortunately I didn't crack those babies out of their ANACS slabs knowing that I could not be possibly have erred in my assessment.

    roadrunner
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold
  • numobrinumobri Posts: 1,473 ✭✭✭

    I have a few coins in slabs that ,imo,have been cleaned or tampered with,and thats PCGS slabs.Still love'em.I bought them knowing thay were cleaned,still love'em.Bust Dollars are cool.
    NUMO
  • numobrinumobri Posts: 1,473 ✭✭✭

    Sorry,cleaned is NOT on the slab.
    NUMO
  • WoodwindWoodwind Posts: 486 ✭
    Twowood, I share your feelings. Turns out many of the "uncirculated" Morgan Dollars I purchased 9-10 years ago were cleaned, whizzed, PVC contaminated, pi$$ed on pieces not worth much more than spot silver.

    I pretty much restrict my "slab only" purchases to MS or proof "classic" coins, or frequently counterfieted key dates, such as a 1909-S VDB cent. I wouldn't go so far as to restrict all my purchases to slabbed coins. If I see for example, a nice Seated Quarter in VF at a show which looks original and is offered at a reasonable price and I have a chance to give it a good look before purchasing, I'll buy it. I'll have a nice coin, and really won't take much of a hit if it was cleaned at one point.
    Lurking proudly on internet forums since 2001
  • DeadhorseDeadhorse Posts: 3,720 ✭
    eBay is a crap shoot with more crap than anything else, I've had my share of mistakes there and elsewhere. Having said that, I picked up a 36D Merc raw for $45 that slabbed at 66FB. That will make up for a few more future mistakes.

    Also grabbed a half roll of unc 43 Walkers for $78 and 4 of them slabbed at 65, 2 at 64 and 4 at 63. Ebay treasures can be found, there are many sellers who aren't collectors and won't trust collectors to be fair with them. So they go the open market route.
    "Lenin is certainly right. There is no subtler or more severe means of overturning the existing basis of society(destroy capitalism) than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
    John Marnard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, page 235ff
  • dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭
    what's sad is that the most important thing to twowood is: "will it slab or not" as opposed to "do i like the coin or not". i get the feeling you must have LIKED the coin before slabing it, otherwise, why did you keep it so long? so now you need a plastic co. to TELL you whether you may like the coin or not?

    the issue isn't whether you should buy slabs or not, or whether the coin is cleaned or not, but whether you actually know what the heck you LIKE.

    maybe you shouldn't buy coins at all until you figure that 1 out

    K S

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