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When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 1:04 am
by charleyboy
I see all kinds of coins that have been graded and slabbed that are not of significant value. In some cases the grading cost is worth as much as the coin. Are sellers getting them graded in bulk ? It seems to me that a coin should be worth $150 or more to be considered and only if you are selling and can justify the expense with the higher price a certified and graded coin will sell for. I could be absolutely wrong and this is why I am asking for advice.

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 3:32 am
by Bill in Burl
Of my thousands of coins, not a single one is graded. I think that people submit them in lots and sometimes add some unworthy coins just to get to the magic number, be it 20 or 50 or 100. Other unknowing poor folks submit worthless coins only because they think that they have to .... TPG propaganda is very strong and some jerks on the coin sites are just as bad. They talk up how a coin has to be certified to be taken seriously and that's bunk. If everyone would learn how to grade themselves, TPG's would only be handling extremely high-end, expensive coins or large collections that have no interested heirs. Propaganda for registry sets has duped many into getting coins certed.

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:49 am
by troubadour
Some people also try to collect all grades for a specific coin. Ex. 1-cent 1876H from BS1 to MS67

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:10 am
by charleyboy
But if have coins that I want to sell that are in the $150 and up price range that I don't need for my collection etc. is it not better to have them certified ?

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 4:36 am
by Bill in Burl
When it was suggested above that a coin should be "worth' at least $150, the definition of "worth" is what you can actually SELL it for and not what is listed in Trends or Charlton. Unless you are talking about high-end or scarce stuff, it would take a Trends listing of $300 to be the same as an actual "selling" price of $150-170.

ICCS is the cheapest TPG, so it will run you $15 or so to have it cert'd, plus postage and insurance, so you are already eating up nearly 20% of what you can sell it for. The $20 each or so that you are wasting on the TPG will start to limit the number of nice coins that you can be buying with the money .. it really starts to add up. If you want to have a "variety" certified, you can at least double what the TPG is going to cost .. why give some company money for some plastic and a piece of thin cardboard with an opinion? A good camera and nice honest photos do more to sell a coin than any cert'd coin, especially ICCS (who never puts cleaning, environmental, or scratches in the comments/remarks). Learn how to grade and be honest .. you will be much better off.

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 3:06 pm
by charleyboy
I have 6 1953 nsf near missing chrome can 5 cent MS++++ and 5 sf far 1953 missing chrome nickels MS++++ as well as a 1955 nsf can 1 cent MS+++, an unc 1794 copper company restrike token, 2 unc 1936 dot/bar can 25 cents and dozens of unc pre-confed tokens just to name a few. It would be worth the expense if I wanted to put them up for auction (Heritage,Stacks etc) or would it ?

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 4:24 pm
by Bill in Burl
Depending on where you live, I would put them in the Geoffrey Bell auction at the late Sept Coin Expo in Toronto. DO not consign them to The Canadian Numismatic Crooks (TCNC) at any Torex. Heritage would be good. Are all your coins raw or have they been sleeved?

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:40 pm
by charleyboy
Hi Bill, all coins are encased but not certified or graded. I also have some notes 1954 unc S/R $2 and several $100 and $50 etc. The nickels include 40 no chrome 51-54 UNC. and 400 circulated but f+ 1920-1936 nickels. 1947 curved-maple leaf $1, 1859 brass cent and about 2 thousand more at least.

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:50 am
by Bill in Burl
My personal opinion (but I am not a 5 cent collector) is to gradually sell the nickels slowly, either on this site or Ebay, and raw in groups. I wouldn't certify any of them. I would certify the '47 dollar, but it will cost a bunch to have the variety listed... I'd try ICCS. For the '36 25 cents, I would ensure that you actually have what you said you did and then cert them if they are real ... again, it will cost some $$$ to have the variety listed. I don't know you or your grading skills, but I would doubt that you actually have dozens of UNC preconfed tokens ... they are tough to grade. As I have stated before, take good photo and be honest with potential buyers ... then try to sell them on the B & S section of this forum, but on the French side or on the CCF site. Ebay and Paypal take a cut of what could be a slim market over there and any auction company takes a large slice as well.

Re: When to grade a coin ?

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:04 pm
by charleyboy
Thanks Bill you have given me some good advice and I appreciate it.