Grading result in HGM $20 St Gaudens

[Guest]

Just got the results back from NGC though the coins will take 8 days in the mail. Some good and some bad but some of you may remember I picked up a $20 St Gaudens from HGM a few weeks back.

One of those Instant decisions, button pressed, subsequent poverty moments...

63+ is a nice result...

[Guest]

While I'm looking over the results here are a couple of others..

Lunar 1 1/2oz proof. Only 4 graded at NGC and none higher than 69

Panda proof 1989 with 1354 graded by NGC and 921 in 69 with only 22 graded 70

[lightjaw]

Very nice! I have some things I want grading myself, but it seems such a faff.

[Guest]

Very nice! I have some things I want grading myself, but it seems such a faff.

What do you have that you think would be good to grade?

[lightjaw]

Have that 1 dollar and a 2.5 dollar I wouldn't mind doing

[Guest]

If you want to add them to my next lot which will be sent from the USA about October 16 then I can add them. Cost would be £30 each coin plus sd back to you for 6.50

[lightjaw]

Thanks, will have a think about that the next couple of days. Will pm you

[Pipers]

I want to say from the start I have never bought a slabbed coin and have never paid for a coin to be slabbed, I have seen slabbed coins, a lot of them in a friends collection. I have told him the same and he disagrees with me.  

 

So thats how much per coin, wow. I don;t understand why you slab new coins, the vast majority of new coins will achieve 69 or 70 because new technology so why slab? 

 

As long as there is a market for slabbed coins then OK I suppose.

 

Now this is about the st Gaudens coin above which I like!!

 

The 63 for the St Gaudens how have they come to that? do they take into account that the coin was in circulation?  To a lot of collectors coins with slight markings (same as the St Gaudens above) is favorable. To grade a coin like that as a 63 why not 64 or 62 or even 65.  The fact is has wear on it tells the story it has been used and has a history!  The coin has not been damaged and only has slight wear hardly anything for its age and in fact is in good condition.     

 

 Going onto other coins now.  So is a 200 year old coin that was in circulation and was found in a historical war field, does the coin go through the same rating system as a new coin?

 

This is my opinion, If you like the look of the coin in the slab then fine, but don't for one minute think that the rating companies are experts at rating coins there not they just give an opinion they are sent to many coins to rate and churn them out fast.  After a while you will have your own opinion on the coins you buy who is to say who's opinion is correct.       

[KDave]

I agree with Pipers on this one but I do see the value of slabbing from a collectors point of view. If I was buying a rare coin as a collector, I would want to make sure I was paying the right price for it. The coin grading system offers a 'professional' third party opinion on the coins changing hands so can help the buyer and seller when making a judgement as to its value. It also helps filter out the fakes (in theory anyway) so the buyer and seller can be confident they are dealing with the real thing, so long as you trust the systems employed by the grading company. Buying a loose coin you take more risk of buying a fake, which with a high value collectors item might not be worth it.

 

From my point of view, there is something I don't like about not being able to touch the coin directly. I think that if I bought a slabbed coin, I would eventually crack the slab just so I could hold the coin inside. 

 

I wonder has anyone ever cracked a slab and sent the coin back in for grading to see what happens to its grade? An interesting and expensive exercise for sure!

[Guest]

I want to say from the start I have never bought a slabbed coin and have never paid for a coin to be slabbed, I have seen slabbed coins, a lot of them in a friends collection. I have told him the same and he disagrees with me.  

 

So thats how much per coin, wow. I don;t understand why you slab new coins, the vast majority of new coins will achieve 69 or 70 because new technology so why slab? 

 

As long as there is a market for slabbed coins then OK I suppose.

 

Now this is about the st Gaudens coin above which I like!!

 

The 63 for the St Gaudens how have they come to that? do they take into account that the coin was in circulation?  To a lot of collectors coins with slight markings (same as the St Gaudens above) is favorable. To grade a coin like that as a 63 why not 64 or 62 or even 65.  The fact is has wear on it tells the story it has been used and has a history!  The coin has not been damaged and only has slight wear hardly anything for its age and in fact is in good condition.     

 

 Going onto other coins now.  So is a 200 year old coin that was in circulation and was found in a historical war field, does the coin go through the same rating system as a new coin?

 

This is my opinion, If you like the look of the coin in the slab then fine, but don't for one minute think that the rating companies are experts at rating coins there not they just give an opinion they are sent to many coins to rate and churn them out fast.  After a while you will have your own opinion on the coins you buy who is to say who's opinion is correct.       

 

I think that USA gold coins should almost always be slabbed as that is the ONLY way others have confidence in them and can assess value. When I slab USA coins i want to know if i have bought well and micro grade differences can often make large value differences. Once many coins go past MS63 to MS64 and MS65 the values can rise geometrically and similarly if i have bought a coin with any kind of details grade I want to know asap not when i resell it and the buyer complains to me.

 

Modern coins are a different matter but I have a (bad) habit of grading modern coins too. I usually only buy modern coins that are low mintage and desirable. I would never grade a Lunar 2 BU but i have just graded a Lunar 1 1/2oz that has a total mintage of about a thousand or so compared to hundreds of thousands for the bullion.

 

I have graded silver and gold libertad proofs. I have graded gold BU libertads, britannias and sovereigns. I always rationalise and discuss with myself if it is worth grading. Sometimes the reason is i like them lined up in a box... sometimes it is because I want to possibly sell in the USA market. Sometimes i have a good surprise and sometimes its depressing but i enjoy the process and I enjoy being contrary to the traditional british view!

 

I collect USA gold. Why? Its interesting historical and not many in Europe collect it. When I want to sell I can sell in the UK, Europe or the USA where there are 2m coin collectors! In the UK we are ok with USA coins but in the USA they have a large not made here contingent to most people ONLY collect American.

[HighlandTiger]

 It also helps filter out the fakes (in theory anyway) so the buyer and seller can be confident they are dealing with the real thing, so long as you trust the systems employed by the grading

company. Buying a loose coin you take more risk of buying a fake, which with a high value collectors item might not be worth it.

 

The Chinese are already knocking out tons of faked slabbed coins. The difference is, you can't check the coin inside. With companies like NGC kindly putting up serial numbers on their website it doesn't take a master counterfeiter to even match coins to existing graded coins.

 

Personally I wouldn't trust any slabbed coin unless I had it slabbed myself.  

[KDave]

With companies like NGC kindly putting up serial numbers on their website it doesn't take a master counterfeiter to even match coins to existing graded coins.

 

Great point that I had not considered. 

 

The best thing I have bought for peace of mind was an electronic tester (an old AGT1) that at least tells me what I have bought is the correct K of gold. Cant do that with slabbed coins though.