if you think there's any good

I usually restrict myself to only using the journal as a place to record my experiences and thoughts as a Numismatist. There are plenty of coin chat boards for discussions on various issues. Having said that-I'm breaking the rules!!

The preponderance of self-slabbing by anyone who wants to buy some slabs and a label maker can in no way help the hobby.That few dollars one might get a decent deal on is going to be off-set in the long run by the de-valuation of a lot of coins...let me try to briefly explain.

For many new collectors, you may not realize that the market is very volatile--being huge in the early nineties and then prices for almost all coins plummeted after many people quit collecting due to various scandals, not the least of which was the over-valuation of silver due to the Hunt bros. It was not until the state quarter program that a wonderful rebound occured.

Do not kid yourself into thinking that this market is strong enough that if there is an exodus of collectors that the coins you buy now for $200-300 could be valued at $20-30 if this happens. Really, how much is a silver quarter worth? If the slab says 70 it may have a value of $200 only if there is demand for it..otherwise it is worth only about $3-4.

The biggest danger that these self-slabbing criminals at sites like ebay pose to the hobby is the potential to push away collectors and stymie the new found interest in our great hobby. If a newbie bought some of these junk coins in phony slabs and thought he was investing wisely, only to find out that the coins were over-graded garbage-if he were smart he would quit the hobby.

I fear that if ebay doesn't start policing themselves, or NGC and PCGS don't step up and stop people from using their names and price guides to sell this junk..we may see another exodus from the hobby when the state quarter series is done. Then all of these coins we are paying hundreds for in Legitamate holders of real TPG's will be worth fractions of their current value.

One thing I read is true--we the collectors set the value of the coins--and if something is not done to shore up and eliminate the fraud that goes on everyday--there will be far less people collecting and lower values of our holdings for everyone..