Spent the afternoon looking at coins....

BigD5

Raw, slabbed, you name it. I was enjoying myself until I saw a fairly pricey coin, but it was in the "wrong" holder. I found myself passing on a coin I pretty much know I shouldn't have passed on. I acquired slab bias. The coin was a barber in pf/65 cameo, and it resided in a PCI gold label holder. The darn thing looked awesome. I kept looking at the coin and trying to figure out what I was missing. Was it worked on? What could they have done to this coin? I kept asking myself these silly questions over and over.
My thinking was that for this coin to be saleable, at a decent level, I would have to get it into a pcgs or ngc holder. I kept focusing on the downside of purchasing the coin (the upside would have been awesome!), if it came back in a bodybag. I figured even if it came back at a lower grade, I wouldn't lose THAT much on the coin, but the fear of the bodybag was overwhelming. I chickened out. Plain and simple.

Anyone else ever run into this? I'll usually buy just about anything considering what I think the grade is in relation to price, but this coin got to me.

mojorizn

I've noticed I tend to fall into this behavior anytime I'm seriously considering a pricey purchase, especially if it's in a series where cleaning is rampant. Semi-key Barbers, Buffalos, scares the hell out of me even though I'm pretty competent (IMO) at grading these series and spotting problem coins.

I pass it off to human nature.

Mojo

andre46

I did the same thing while looking at an 1870CC Morgan. It was in an ANACS holder and looked nice. But I could not get past the fact that I only have coins in PCGS or NGC holders. I did not want to spend a lot of money and have the grade drop.

ARCO

Sure, Buying coins is fun, but why buy something that no one else will pay the same price as you? The grading services have brought respectability and more consistency to grading, but it is a double edged sword. because grades are so readily differentiated, then coins are not discounted nearly as much for overgrading, possible cleaning, possible counterfeits etc.

If you want to sell it down the road and it isn't able to get into a PCGS or NGC holder then you will have a very difficult time selling it raw for even half of the price. The future buyers will think just like you, if it is so gem and wonderful then why isn't it slabbed?

Tyler

roadrunner

I purchased such a coin not too long and had a not so good experience. It was a gem proof cameo ANACS seated type coin. It looked to be a no brainer upgrade by 1 or even 2 points. I paid all the money for the holder as if it were NGC or PCGS (counting on an easy upgrade). Imagine my surprise when it came back "altered surfaces." Now either NGC thought it was frosted or the mirrors were touched up or both. The coin had "10 foot" mirrors and until I told prospective buyers of the "issue," no one had a hint of anything. I sold the coin still in the ANACS holder for about a 10% loss. Fortunately I tried a cross first just to be safe. There is no sure thing out there and this one really woke me up. While it's possible the coin could have been ok (it sold at a major auction), whose to know for sure.

roadrunner

Casey

A month ago I almost bought a beautifully toned Isabella quarter in a PCI holder that was graded MS63. The dealer was going to give me a "great deal" by offering a nice discount from the Greysheet by explaining most of his customers just don't appreciate nice toning and he had held it for a long time. I passed.