Anyone buying any raw/ungraded coins lately??
TennesseeDave
Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭✭✭
I would love to see some of your raw coins that you have bought that you plan to send in for grading.
Here's one I bought recently just because the only other example I own was damaged. I may send it in on my next submission, even though it's not worth very much.
Trade $'s
1
Comments
Sadly, (and maybe to my own detriment), I've pretty much sworn off of raw coins. You see so much damaged "stuff" in raw inventories that it's just too easy to assume it's ALL damaged and unredeemable.
In some ways, I've come full circle from my start in the late 90's when I AVOIDED certified coins because they just seemed like they added an unnecessary expense. I'm not entirely sure if the market has really changed that much....or if it's that I changed that much....
If a dealer or seller has newly graded coins for sale, you must assume that the raw better dates have problems. If they refuse to have coins graded and make a nasty comment about how they hate grading companies, I go shopping.
Here's a 1936 Walker that I bought recently. It's a DDO FS-102, nice splitting on the date.
Bought this one raw for the toning. I needed the date for my toned Indian set.





Graded MS62! Here are the trueviews:
Bought these 2 Mercs this morning. Really curious to see what they will look like.
1919D
1927S
Ken
Have not bought any raw coins in a long time.
Most of the US coins I buy have sufficient certified populations that I don't buy them raw unless it's just to add/upgrade my 7070 or other Dansco albums. I have been buying some raw foreign coins, however, for my World Coins Manufactured at US Mints set and then getting them certified at PCGS. For some of the countries, like Ecuador, El Salvador or Nicaragua, many of the coins have very low or non-existent certified populations. Here are three recent raw purchases, recently graded by PCGS and now top pop:
Pop 1/0:

Pop 1/0:

Pop 1/0:

Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
I buy coins. Sometimes they have plastic around them and sometimes they don't.
I try to only buy raw toned coins and submit them - much greater potential for profit that buying graded toned coins... I could post photos but that would really require a lot of work right now to pull out the camera and stand to set it up... which Im just too busy to do on a Monday.
I thought about getting a CoinStar machine in the shop to subsidize my income. But, I offer to pay 2% more and boy , is this what I call a "raw deal".
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
I buy raw all the time and will get one here and there that will not go in a holder. But all in all I do very good on them. More up then down, But I see some raw ones here that may have a problem.
Hoard the keys.
I have bought maybe two or three graded coins in the past 10 years. Not my gig.
bob


Latest raw pick up:
90% of the coins I buy are raw and I'll never change as I have a lot of success finding the 'good ones'.
Ebay, coin show buying on the floor and visiting coin shops basically makes 100% of my purchases (only one auction purchase since 1998).
Oh, I have my share of losses or better said 'bad purchases', but at the end of the year, I'm way up financially.
I always explain it as if I invested in 100 different stocks, wouldn't everyone be happy if only 20 of them lost money but 80 made money.
That's probably what my percentage is in buying raw coins.
Another thing what saves me, is my bad purchases tend to happen on lower priced items as I do well when I make a big purchase on a raw coin.
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
I just sold this one last week. It's a cool coin. If I didn't already have an example that I liked, I would have sent this in myself.
1955 10c Proof

Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
I buy coins, not plastic.
If it is slabbed, fine, if not, then I double check them, and consider buying them
BHNC #203
These are in my latest submission, all raw from Ebay. The first two are 1873-CC Trade dollars, the last is a 75 S/CC chopped. The first 73-CC is an MPD. It has been cleaned. I am having a bit of a time convincing our hosts that the second one is a CC. It was entered as a CC, then subsequently changed to a P a day or so later. Hasn't been graded yet, but I've sent them photos backing up my claim.






mbogoman
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/classic-issues-colonials-through-1964/zambezi-collection-trade-dollars/7345Asesabi Lutho
Bob, you have a big ole scratch on the reverse.
Yes.
Frequently.
MS, Proof, Specimen and circulated.
I took the pic through a PCGS plastic (used) 2x2 and the scratch that is horizontal across the top is in the plastic not on the coin.......Coin should grade no problem.
Whew, had me worried and had to look again!
bob
A major dealer from MA told me when he goes to a show now he almost never looks at raw coins anymore. It all depends on your source, you can philosophize where a given coins stands in the grading standards, but sellers usually have an inherent bias. I've gotten in too many arguments with dealers over overly optimistic grading which leads to unfortunate buyers stuck with hard feelings when they wise up to what a real grade should be on a coin.
The market does not like risk, why cac coins are a lot easier to sell than regular certifieds.
I'll usually buy both, depending the coin, quality and cost !!!
I've had this for a while and may send it in.


I buy both slabbed and raw... and I prefer raw... That being said, my last raw coin was a counterfeit... but I knew that going in (1902 CC Morgan was never made)....Mostly it is the coin that attracts me... special coins such as key dates etc., I lean toward slabs. Cheers, RickO
The coins I typically deal in ( 300 dollars and under), a large percentage are still raw, and I do not discriminate.
I have been doing this for so long that I can gloss over problem coins without even looking at them, so no time is really wasted.
Raw coins = more opportunity for me.
After all, every coin was once raw, and with slabbed coins I try to makeup my own mind on it, and visualize the coin in a 2x2 and decide if the value is there.
If all the value is in the plastic, it's a quick pass.
The idea that if it's not slabbed, it must have an issue is one that is widely held, and benefits buyers like me.
I buy raw coins all the time. If you and the seller can agree on a grade, or on the price, you can save the seller the trouble of the submission. If the seller is a conservative grader, all the better. I prefer to purchase raw coins, even fairly expensive coins, partly because I can get better value from the coin. And yes, I have made my share of mistakes. But lots of nice raw coins are still out there. However, at a certain price levels, most everything is slabbed or should be graded.
Tom
One has to think that 85%+ of the universe of collectible coins has never been to a TPG.
There are a lot of those low grade Bust quarters sitting raw in dealer cases. $50 in value give or take. Why bother submitting? If you buy from dealers who properly grade their material offering reasonable returns, the hobby is bettered.
Logger7, I think the 1818 quarter I posted should grade between VG-8 and F-12 putting the value at somewhere between $225 and $400. Next time you get the chance to buy a few for $50 each you should buy all you can.
There is a lot of subdued luster. And relatively certain it’s LDS , thus the appearance of more wear than there is. We will see. I paid too much, perhaps.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
OK, I looked it up in PCGS coin facts and you are probably right. I was thinking it wasn't that high grade.
Check out my iPhone app SlabReader!
Awesome surfaces on those 46 Lincolns.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
All of my British Hammered and Roman are "raw". It just seems wrong to encase these historic coins in plastic tombs.
I bought a BU 1943 Walker for $20 bucks.
Sold it for more than double what I paid. Not a big deal but it was nice.
It's kinda scary and I haven't done much else in a while, though.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Bought this raw over ten years ago in an OGP SMS set that I paid about $10.00 for. The quarter probably represents about 20% of the cost of the set, or about $2.00.
I suspect that I could sell the quarter raw for much more than $2.00. If slabbed it would sell for even more.
Nearly all of the coins I've purchased lately are raw.
I'll buy any Large Size Bust Quarter you can sell me for $50 that looks like that!
If a dealer or seller has newly graded coins for sale, you must assume that the raw better dates have problems
this is BS, pure and simple.
@Keets is correct. When you get in a large quantity of coins some you slab some you keep raw for customers that don’t buy plastic holders. Some are scanned but by no means does it say they won’t grade. Just need idea of how many to send in to get how many you need to sell.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member