When do you send a coin for grading? Advice please

[Colnago]

Hi Folks......   I've been a member on the SF for a wee while now. Could any of you experienced punters please advise as to what determines if a coin is good enough to be sent for grading?

Is it mainly proofs that get sent or can you send a fine looking bullion coin?  

If you had a few proof coins why would you not send them?

This may sound daft & i apologize for my lack of knowledge 🤠

Cheers

[SilverAngel]

I've sent in proof and Bullion coins for grading.. albeit the bullion ones being sovereign coins mainly and ones that I want to keep and the slabs are nice at doing that 🙂 ... I do have a couple of 10 oz QB's that have been graded and for me its a case of looking at any coin and seeing if I think it would add value but not necessary from a monetary position

[dicker]

Personally, I don’t.

I have a number of coins that would grade well, but I enjoy them as they are and I certainly don’t need someone in Santa Ana or Sarasota to grade them for me to enjoy them. 

For me at least, I am also not in the business of grading and flipping when I get MS70 or PR70, I simply enjoy owning coins of a certain standard.

The exception to this is Indian Head pre 33 coins, which I can’t work out authenticity of at all. 

I suspect those of a little further down life’s path may be the same and prefer ungraded coins but that might be a generalisation.

I would strongly advocate handling bullion coins (such as Sovs) and seeing them at all angles to really get a feel for them.

Best

Dicker

 

[Jvw]

4 hours ago, Colnago said:

Hi Folks......   I've been a member on the SF for a wee while now. Could any of you experienced punters please advise as to what determines if a coin is good enough to be sent for grading?

Is it mainly proofs that get sent or can you send a fine looking bullion coin?  

If you had a few proof coins why would you not send them?

This may sound daft & i apologize for my lack of knowledge 🤠

Cheers

I agree with Dicker. I even broke some coins out of their grading-capsules to fundle them.... 🤭

But when you are in it to buy ungraded in decent shape and then flip them graded go for it! Hit or miss per coin i guess.

 

[ProfessorStacker]

6 hours ago, Colnago said:

Hi Folks......   I've been a member on the SF for a wee while now. Could any of you experienced punters please advise as to what determines if a coin is good enough to be sent for grading?

Is it mainly proofs that get sent or can you send a fine looking bullion coin?  

If you had a few proof coins why would you not send them?

This may sound daft & i apologize for my lack of knowledge 🤠

Cheers

I send all gold coins 1/4oz and heavier to NGC both BU and Proof. Having a graded coin gives you extra confidence that it is real and gives buyers a confidence as well. Also being a bit OCD I like to have most of my gold slabbed. The 1/10th oz coins I typically do not slab but I would if it were a proof coin or a half sovereign.  

[dicker]

Wow! 

[ProfessorStacker]

It's actually a thrill to send off coins to NGC and see if they get a high grade or not. It's also nice to have all the special labels for your modern coins. I don't use PCGS because they have a policy of "no snap cases" when submitting coins, they must be in flips. Those hard plastic snaps are useful in protecting 99.99 soft gold and I never remove my coins from their capsules. NGC isn't as touchie with things like that.

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

So far...  I haven't yet. I feel pretty negatively towards grading generally. I like it as a concept focused on older coins but feel it is very abused much to the detriment of collectors. The only people benefitting in any meainful way being the submitters and graders themselves in most cases. It is overhyped and over sold. That being said I am in this to hopefully come out on top financially and if I knew grading one of my coins would substantially increase the resale value of it - I would do it. I would only do so though when I was ready to sell. I don't know that grading such as it is today will hold up long term so I wouldn't want to waste money now on coins I would be selling down the road.

[GoodAsGold]

I see merit in both your approaches to collecting  @dickerand @ProfessorStacker. I used to be content with just buying raw coins and I still haven’t sold any on yet. That day will come along sooner or later because I wouldn’t want to kick the bucket and leave them to family members who wouldn’t appreciate their worth when they sold them on.

I had always wanted to own a Queen Victoria young head shield back sovereign but my fear of ending up with a fake led me to buying a nice MS64 slabbed sov courtesy of Karl’s 1817 website. Although I’d seen pictures of what I was buying, I actually gasped when I opened the package and saw the gleaming gold coin in all it’s beauty. I own a few other slabbed coins too and I see slabs as the way ahead for me.

I plan to get some raw coins professionally graded because when I decide to sell them on it should avoid any potential disputes with prospective buyers about their true condition. I too have never removed my raw coins from their capsules and was apprehensive about myself or third parties handling them just to shove them in flips. It’s good to know that NGC accept capsules.   

 

[dicker]

Absolutely “horses for courses”.  
 

Whatever gives anyone pleasure in this hobby of ours. 
 

Have a good weekend all 

Best

Dicker

[sovereignsteve]

Curiousity (as to grade, when you don't know how to grade)
Competition (with yourself or others)
Authentication
Protection
To increase Value

[ProfessorStacker]

26 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

Curiousity (as to grade, when you don't know how to grade)
Competition (with yourself or others)
Authentication
Protection
To increase Value

Personally I grade my coins just because I like the protective slabs in my collection. NGC has a registry where you compete but I mainly like their registry just for my digital library to scroll through my coins. Once in a while you get a failure like a brand new proof that grades at 69 or a Victorian era that comes back "scratched" or "cleaned". Overall it is a fun process and probably the safest way to keep your coins protected. The man I have to thank for getting me into graded coins is Numistacker with his lovely videos.

[MrFreezerrr]

I agree with the short summation of @sovereignsteve I guess you can send in any coin for grading whenever you feel like it...The real question is, will you win or lose money in the end.

Some people use the grading service just to know their stuff is real because they don’t have the right tools or mindset to determinate authenticity. Some people just want only the best of the best.

i guess it’s about the same as grading games or cards...also in this field the number of gradings has increased. And it splits collectors into 2 groups; some people do, some don’t. I guess it adds a more secure feeling to the eventual buyer and it’s also great for people who only want top notch stuff that has been looked at by an expert in these fields. But having said that; be carefull with second hand graded stuff being sold, it also might be a fake switched with the real deal after grading. The more technique, images and worldwide knowledge increase, the better the fakes.

[Chorlton]

In my case both. Grading keeps my sticky paws off more valuable and interesting coins , and it is good to be sure you have a genuine, quality example of a coin that interests you. Also I have various ungraded coins which vary in quality which I have no current interest in grading. The main thing is to enjoy the coins either graded or ungraded.