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Does "plastic" collecting make collecting easier and less stressful?

haletjhaletj Posts: 2,192 ✭
in PCGS Set Registry Forum
Sometimes it is hard and frustrating to find the coins with the look I want for the grade I want. It seems like it'd be easier and less stressful to just buy any old coin that is in a holder of the grade you want and be done with it. I guess your set would not come out as nearly as nice at the end.

Comments

  • bennybravobennybravo Posts: 1,930 ✭✭✭
    To me personally, thats what make coin collecting fun!I have a very limited budget,at least compared to alot of folks that post here.If I can only afford say a 64 of a certain date, then my quest becomes to locate the absolute finest example of a 64 that I can find.Sometimes that means going through two or three or more pieces of the same date, and constantly selling an example to replace it with a coin I deem to be 1/10th of a point finer.It's said all the time around here, but if you buy the best example for the grade that you can afford, you'll have much more pride in your collection, and you'll feel even better when you get ready to sell.image

    https://www.ebay.com/mys/active

  • earlwbollingerearlwbollinger Posts: 1,304
    Yes I think buyng a coin in a slab is easier and less stressful, but only if you buy slabs from the #1 top tier services.
    When you go to a dealer's store front or to a coin show, you can take your loupes and examine the coin in detail easily.
    If your buying off the internet, then the slab becomes more important to avoid rips offs.
    The slab gives you more assurance that a coin is at the grade your looking for, more or les, sight unseen. Which is one of the
    main reasons for slabs when they first came out years ago.
    But there can be differences in the eye appeal of a particular coin at a certain grade. So it's possible you might buy and or sell more than
    one coin at a certain grade to getthe one your wanting for your collection.
    image
  • haletjhaletj Posts: 2,192 ✭


    << <i>...my quest becomes to locate the absolute finest example of a 64 that I can find.Sometimes that means going through two or three or more pieces of the same date, and constantly selling an example to replace it with a coin I deem to be 1/10th of a point finer... >>


    That's my quest and exactly what I do too. But it gets frustrating sometimes with returning so many coins or having so much money tied up in duplicates... etc. For example I have owned 4 25-d Lincolns, 3 of 1915,16-d,20-s,24-s,28-d and 2 of most other dates (mostly the exact same grades), and some of these dates I'm still not happy with the coin I have.
  • LincolnCentManLincolnCentMan Posts: 5,347 ✭✭✭✭
    Problem/over-graded coins was my problem with raw ones. I got tired of sending 50% of my purchases back, so I decided to collect slabs. Where the average value of a coin in my set used to be around $2-$5, now it's much higher.... the "drawback" to collecting slabs.

    Another problem with raw coins is they're so darn hard to sell. It's hit and miss. Sometimes you can get what you think, sometimes you wont get half. The slabbed market is much more stable when it comes to sinking larger amounts of money into a collection.

    I have reciently moved back to collecting some raw stuff. I've bought about 10 lincolns for my raw set. Of those, I've only sent two back.

    It has been my experince that putting together raw sets is funner.... but putting together slabbed sets is a better investment, and "less stressful."

    David
    Lincolncentman Toned Lincolns
  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,274 ✭✭✭
    "It seems like it'd be easier and less stressful to just buy any old coin that is in a holder of the grade you want and be done with it. I guess your set would not come out as nearly as nice at the end."

    You're right, if you collect by numbers on slabs, you end up with a very mediocre result.
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • StoogeStooge Posts: 4,668 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't feel stress coin collecting. Actually only when I'm bidding in the wee few minutes of an auction.

    It is alot easier to just buy a coin thats already slabbed, but its more rewarding to learn to grade a raw coin and send them in yourself. For instance, I usually send in 20 coins...I make anywhere from 3-5 that grade what I want/need for my sets, and sell the rest. All coins will find a good home, and I usually make enough to cover the submission and end up with FREE coins for my set. I've been fortunate enough to grade a few coins in my days that I have seen sell for wicked $$$ and smile everytime knowing that I didn't have to pay that kind of $$$.

    Later, Paul.

    Later, Paul.
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