My local dealers shun slabbed coins. Do they in your area?

fcloud

Some of the threads I have seen today, have me thinking. I know from first hand experience that the dealers in which I visit in SE Wisconsin don't want to purchase slabbed coins. They prefer raw coins. I also know from conversations with other collectors, some, like me, prefer slabbed coins for a various reasons.

With that said, how do dealers in your locals like or dislike slabbed coins?

Please list a general area and if dealers like or dislike and why.

I'll add some additional comments either later or tomorrow.

Tony

nwcs

No, but around here they don't understand them. That is, the shop owners. It's a bit different at the local show.

darktone

In south central Wisconsin they only want to buy PCGS certified coins for half value and they want to sell you overgraded stuff at red book prices and if they do have a slabbed coin it is in a SEGS or PCI holder.

fcloud

Darktone,

That is two for our homestate of Wisconsin.

Too bad our Packers lost.

Tony

Fairlaneman

Usually only two dealers are dealt with here in Portland.

One dealer does not have a single slabbed coin in his shop period. If he does have them he does not let anyone know as he hates the slab industry or so it seems. I believe he knows I collect slabbed coins but the subject plain does not get any discussion. He still has his hard core bunch of folks that buy only raw coins. I have not ever tried to sell him a slabbed coin because of the fear of getting the boot from his shop.

The other dealer can take them or leave them. He has a appreciation for nice coins and when he makes purchases actually the number on the slab means nothing to him. If it is correct in his opinion he will buy the coin if not he just passes on it. When talking coins with him slabbing comes up almost everytime. For the most part he will only send a coin in if he thinks the slab will increase its chance of a sale or if a collector requests that the coin be sent in.

A few other shops are around but for the most part the inventory is usually very weak. I think a couple of these other shop owners do alot on Ebay without offering thier coins to local customers. Anyway that is the Rumors that have been heard. I guess this has really turned off some of thier customers.

Guess it is a Take It or Leave It attitude with the folks I seek coins from locally.

Ken

wingedliberty

I can tell you that from my personal experience, the local dealers here , who shun slabbed coins, are the ones known for selling their raw OVERGRADED coins. I don't believe that it is a coincidence. Granted , there are alot of honest dealers who love raw coins, but my personal belief is that those dealers who are the most vehement anti certification nuts, are the ones who are usually dishonest.
My personal opinion only.

291fifth

It's the MARGIN. It's hard to make money with PCGS/NGC slabs. Small time dealers make their money by undergrading when they buy and overgrading when they sell. This is the way it has always been.

Blackhawk

When you walk into the shop to sell, it's hard for the dealer to tell you your coin is au when it's in a MS65 holder. That's why they don't want to buy slabbed coins.

Typetone

I wouldn't offer a local dealer a high grade slabbed coin, or expect to buy one there. Normally I spend $10 to $50 in these shops buying proof sets, raw low value pieces for kids collections, books, supplies, etc. For the most part, local store front dealers play in a different game. Nothing wrong with that, ir is just a different game.

Greg

MadMarty

281fifth, hit the nail on the head. When dealing with slabs your dealing with greysheet pricing! For Buying and selling. You (Mr Customer who got some coins from your poor old uncle, Herold who is no longer with us). Your coins are slabbed by PCGS, They say MS65, you can look them up on the internet and get an idea of prices. But if poor old Herolds coins are raw, my dealer looks at them and they are all AU! Pays you AU prices, and sell them as MS65s!! Poor old Herold is spinning in his grave!

mgoodm3

I dont' see a lot where I go in southern OR. They always have a few slabs, but mostly raw. I'm not sure if they're shunned or not. They do seem to be reasonable with their grading of raw coins.

Blade

Same experience here. 4 local dealers. 2 in stores sell 99% raw only and play the undergrade when buying / overgrade when selling. Interestingly, when I had some $100-$300 raw coins, neither was willing to pay more than AU money. They acknowledged that they could be MS but said they didn't know the series well enough, so low-balled the pricing as a hedge. Their stories were so similar it was as if they were scripted.

The other local dealer has 50% slabbed inventory, but it is they low eye appeal stuff most people don't want. A few nice coins, but hit or miss.

The last one deals in high-end raw. Real nice stuff. He is the epitome of customer service. He guarantees his coins will make the slabbed grade at PCGS or NGC or he will provide a full refund. And if you every want to resell to upgrade, he will apply 100% of the value to the new coin. How cool is that?

fcloud

Blade,

Sound like a great dealer!

Merc

Wow Blade, your last dealer sounds great.

My local dealer has 4 or 5 PCGS coins at the most. Often it is just some modern US gold eagle. Everything else is raw. The circulated coins are correctly graded but the uncirculated coins are a gamble. Some are correct; some are AU coins. The crazy thing is he is a NGC and PCGS authorized dealer and has almost no graded coins.

dlimb2

They don't in Chicago, I go to the shops and they all have slabbed coins. I have never tried to purchased one because I find them higher than ebay. Infact I find more slabbed than raw. You should tell those Cheese heads to get with the program.

fcloud

<< <i> You should tell those Cheese heads to get with the program. >>

LOL!

I wish they never came up with those cheese hats. Maybe that why there are so many slow people here. Their brains are made up of cheese. (oh wait, I must be one of them?) LOL

dlimb2

fcloud, ahhh we like you Cheese Heads...just wait until tomorrow night...The Bears in there new Palace....just you wait. LOL

fcloud

da Bears on top? What is this world coming to? LOL.

In fun of course. My dad was, as he would say, "born and raised in Chicago." Eventhough he now lives in CA, he is still a die hard Bear fan.

dlimb2

fcloud, Then I would have to say you are a transplanted Cheese Head...you dont count..yes I am just having a little fun with ya. Should be a good game GreenBay and Chicago on the 29th.

beorn

my problem is my local dealer is 100 miles from home.he is a certified pcgs dealer which means here he can submit coins to pcgs if you cant.he will look at a pcgs slabbed coin and say if you cracked that out ,it would never get that grade again.to me that is unethical as my understanding of the system is that he should honor pcgs graded material as an accurate accessment of grade

MacCrimmon

<< <i>The last one deals in high-end raw. Real nice stuff. He is the epitome of customer service. He guarantees his coins will make the slabbed grade at PCGS or NGC or he will provide a full refund. And if you every want to resell to upgrade, he will apply 100% of the value to the new coin. How cool is that? >>



Sounds like someone I know. .....as it should be! My money says he'll buy it back at 100% because he knows it's ALL THERE!

psxchelly

the dealer by my house says that slabbed coins are no better than unslabbed.. and are worth no more

BUT!

he sells the slabbed coins for a premium. go figure.

barberlover

<< <i>Darktone,

That is two for our homestate of Wisconsin.

Too bad our Packers lost.

Tony >>



Go Vikings!!!!

And we'll do it again when they come to the dome to!

Les

lava

My opinion is most local shop owners and dealers down play the importance of slabs because of what they do -- they level the playing field in terms of knowledge, and they drive up a dealer's cost for a coin, and they eleiminate any chance of puffing by the dealer, so all sliders go to the benefit of the buyer.

Quite frankly, I think many local dealers were prefer you trust them and not the third-party grader. To me, that never made much sense, not when money is involved and I have it and the dealer wants it. I won't buy raw coins, and I miss out on a few bargains, but I think overall, I come out way ahead.

291fifth

There is a saying in numismatics: "If you don't know your coins, know your dealer." I would modify that somewhat: "If you don't know your coins, find another hobby."

fcloud

Barberlover,

Vikings, what are Vikings. LOL,

Yep, it doesn't look good for the Pack this year, but Favre has had worse starts, we'll see what happens.

darktone

The packers have been on top for quite a while so I am not too upset if they lose a few games. It must be rough being a bear fan the last decade or so. mike

jonesy

Yes! The dealer here in Louisville is a NGC dealer but has no NCG and very few PCGS coins. They Suck!!

g097103

My local dealer carries both slabs and raw. He knows I don't care for slabs and if I buy one it will be cracked out
right after I get home, thus the label from whoever has no value to me, just eye appeal. On slabbed coins the
dance over price is a bit stricter than raw.

1956Quarter

In the Philly suburban area where I live, there is a mixture. In my specific closed area dealers are few, very very very few. One is a stickler for slabs and we've gotten into some heated arguments where he has gone as far as insulting me at which point I stoped going to his shop. Its no skin off my rear as I consider him a shyster. There is a newer dealer, who I visited and got promply ripped off. He is slabs only, and swears by them up and down. I dealt with him once and trusted him and he scorched the skin off my rear. Never again, he I consider a crook. Those two are the ones who are less honest in my opinion than the raw dealers I know. Neither one gets what I am saying when I say a coin in a holder is a 63 when the slab says its a 65. They could put a coin through the blender and destroy it, then put it in a 65 slab and to them its a 65, period. Bullcrap. Its stupidity, stubborness, and greed. There is another dealer in a local flea market, he's a scammer too. Tons of junk, prices way too high. I stopped looking after the first binder full of garbage. I have to travel a good hour and a half or more to two shops I trust. Both deal primarily in raw coins, but on occasion a slab will show up in their case. For the most part, I agree with their raw grading so I feel they are honest. Both are willing to negotiate and deal. Both have the same opinion on slabs. Basically they can take them or leave them, but would rather leave them, and I agree. My biggest beef is that truly locally, and by that I mean a 20 or 30 minute drive, not an hour or more, there are 2 dealers, and both are shysters. Needless to say, coin collecting for me is slow and frustrating as I really have to wait until the once or twice a year local show to get anything. There are a ton more dealers in the Philly suburbs but they are either outfits like Heritage where you need to walk in the door with a quarter million or they would not give you the time of day, or they are farther out of my way and not worth the trip.

Cougar1978

Here in Cali shops near me slabs rule the day. However one has like a junk tub of raw collector coins in2x2. Quite a few foreign. Load up there when when that stuff low.

BAJJERFAN

Another old thread with a few familiar names, some likely gone forever.

PeakRarities

@Cougar1978 said:
Here in Cali shops near me slabs rule the day. However one has like a junk tub of raw collector coins in2x2. Quite a few foreign. Load up there when stuff low.

Cougar, Im just trying to play the tape out in my head as to how this happens so frequently. How do you find these threads, and do you realize theyre 20 years old?

Cladiator

20 years old or not, it's my experience that in NorCal shops tend to be much more receptive to paying up for accurately graded slabbed coins from the big 3 (I guess big 4 now).

Barberian

My LCSs shun customers.

knovak1976

With all the counterfeits finding their way into the market place I will only buy slabbed coins now, so if my local coin shops don’t have what I’m looking for slabbed, then I’m not buying. Too easy to get ripped off any more. I used to buy Mercanti, Moy, Ryder, Cleveland, and a few other signatures but they have flooded the market so the signatures don’t mean anything other than overpaying for an autograph everyone can get.

PerryHall

I asked one coin shop owner if he had any slabbed US gold coins and he told me that any slabbed gold coins that he buys is wholesaled to another dealer. I guess he can't sell them to the walk-in buyers he normally gets. I never went back to that shop.

DocBenjamin

@fcloud said:
Darktone,

That is two for our homestate of Wisconsin.

Too bad our Packers lost.

Tony

21 years, but you got a win yesterday.

jmlanzaf

@PeakRarities said:

@Cougar1978 said:
Here in Cali shops near me slabs rule the day. However one has like a junk tub of raw collector coins in2x2. Quite a few foreign. Load up there when stuff low.

Cougar, Im just trying to play the tape out in my head as to how this happens so frequently. How do you find these threads, and do you realize theyre 20 years old?

And this one is particularly problematic as the market penetration if slabs is very different in 2024 than 2003. Nothing said in this thread is likely true anymore.

jmlanzaf

@PerryHall said:
I asked one coin shop owner if he had any slabbed US gold coins and he told me that any slabbed gold coins that he buys is wholesaled to another dealer. I guess he can't sell them to the walk-in buyers he normally gets. I never went back to that shop.

It's a liquidity issue. You only make $50 to $100 an ounce on gold. Gold at $2500 can easily make a $50 swing over a couple days. You have to lock in your 3% profit when you can and slabbed gold allows you to do it.

If I buy a slabbed gold deal, it's sold on the phone within the hour. Unless it is something special which 99+% of the time it isn't.

BillJones

We have some local shops here which have very few certified coins on display. They generally sell low priced coins. For many collectors, a $100 to $300 coin is a big purchase. The upper limit of that range is the starting point where values need to be to make the cost of slabbing viable.

yosclimber

@knovak1976 said:
With all the counterfeits finding their way into the market place I will only buy slabbed coins now, ...

Of course, the criminals have adapted, so now there are counterfeit slabs as well.

willy

Wisconsin dealers still have a majority of raw coins when you go to local shows.

jmlanzaf

@willy said:
Wisconsin dealers still have a majority of raw coins when you go to local shows.

Most dealers have a majority of raw coins because the vast majority of coins are raw.

TwoSides2aCoin

My customers buy them raw and submit them. I might shun them returning to me trying to sell back for multiples of what I charged them initially

However time changes a lot of things and this thread was begun nearly a quarter century ago.

knovak1976

@yosclimber said:

@knovak1976 said:
With all the counterfeits finding their way into the market place I will only buy slabbed coins now, ...

Of course, the criminals have adapted, so now there are counterfeit slabs as well.

True, but much easier to identify the counterfeits since you can cross check the numbers. And now many slabs now are being made with a chip in them too for identification.

DocBenjamin

@knovak1976 said:

@yosclimber said:

@knovak1976 said:
With all the counterfeits finding their way into the market place I will only buy slabbed coins now, ...

Of course, the criminals have adapted, so now there are counterfeit slabs as well.

True, but much easier to identify the counterfeits since you can cross check the numbers. And now many slabs now are being made with a chip in them too for identification.

The chips are effective but also disturbing. Hobby was easier with the raw coins. Even if they had a few thumbprints.

ms71

Oh well, I read this thread from the top, not realizing it was a resurrected sleeper. Guess I need to pay better attention.

Manifest_Destiny

Sheesh.....

yosclimber

@knovak1976 said:

@yosclimber said:

@knovak1976 said:
With all the counterfeits finding their way into the market place I will only buy slabbed coins now, ...

Of course, the criminals have adapted, so now there are counterfeit slabs as well.

True, but much easier to identify the counterfeits since you can cross check the numbers. And now many slabs now are being made with a chip in them too for identification.

Many of the counterfeit slabs have valid Cert numbers, and often the coin does not have a TrueView to check against.
For high grade moderns, the TrueView does not help, of course.

Some of the earlier counterfeit labels were copied using non-matching PCGS Coin numbers, and those are easy to spot.

It's true the slabs with RFID chips will be harder to counterfeit.

Catbert

@ms71 said:
Oh well, I read this thread from the top, not realizing it was a resurrected sleeper. Guess I need to pay better attention.

It is definitely inconsiderate when a poster resurrects a thread and fails to mention its age in the new post. Bad form.