To submit or not to submit posted by Yankeejose

[CSJournals-migration]

That is the question

 

Last August I attended the ANA Worlds Fair of Money in Chicago. It was only the second coin show I had ever attended. WOW- what an experience! Talk about the proverbial kid in candy store. There were some great exhibits- but I must admit I spent most of my time going through the bourse. If you have ever seen the pictures of the show-, the bourse room was enormous. It was tough trying not to spend all my money before I got through the whole show. Of course, the dealer that had several coins I wanted was at the back and I already spent most of my money.

 

Anyway, the point of my journal is that at the show I joined the ANA as an associate member- it was only 14 dollars above the admission cost. So now, I have NGC submission privileges. I want to send in some coins but I am having a hard time trying to decide what is worth the submission cost. Even at the economy rate, it would still cost 133 dollars to submit six coins for grading. This comes out to 22 dollars per coin. Therefore, to me I need to find six coins in my raw collection that I paid 22 dollars less than market value just to break even. In addition, they need to be coins worth grading in the first place.

 

I have only submitted coins for grading once before. About 2 years ago, I sent 10 coins to ANACS when they had a 10 for 100 special. That was a real wake-up call. Two coins came back details graded due to cleaning. One was a common Morgan that I thought for sure was MS- it was MS but after I looked closer it had fine hairline scratches from some type of whizzing. Another that graded as MS details cleaned was a 1909 Lincoln penny. I have since learned a lot about avoiding and identifying cleaned Lincolns. Seems like back in the 1930's to 40's the only good coin was a shiny coin, even it was a circulated. I had a 1949D Franklin come back AU-58 and a 1949S come back as AU-55. At the time I thought both were MS. Obviously coin grading is a constant learning process. Moreover, I learned because someone is selling a coin as MS does not mean it is MS. At some point, I am sure most collectors have been burned on coins that came back not graded as expected/purchased.

 

My question is how do my fellow CS members decide on what coins to submit? For example, the difference between a MS 64 and 65, or a 65 and 66 can make it worth the submission or just a waste of money. If it does not grade as expected I now have a certified coin that is not worth the money I have in it. To me the toughest coins to grade are those in the different MS levels. There certain coins like Franklin and Silver Washington quarters that do not have a lot of detail to begin with. I guess I could just take a gamble and see what happens. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks and best of luck in your searches!

 

See more journals by Yankeejose

[coinsbygary]

The question to submit a coin for grading is determined based on your collecting goals almost irregardless the value of the coin being submitted. For example, I have been known to spend more money on grading than the coin is worth. Why? Because that coin for whatever reason, I consider a key coin in one of my sets. Years ago when I joined Collector's Society, much of my collection was either raw or graded by third tier grading companies. That first year I bought a premium membership to get an extra 10% off on grading fees on my raw and cross over submissions. The next year, with the bulk of my collection certified I scaled my membership back to a simple 5 free certificate. When you consider costs don't forget the postage and insurance fees BOTH ways. These fess are part of the reason that where possible I buy only PCGS or NGC graded coins. Let someone else pay all those costs, especially on coins that are worth less than the price to grade them, and believe me those deals are out there if you look hard enough. Another good reason to buy certified is to take the guess work out of your coin purchase, meaning you no longer need to worry about improperly cleaned. For the most part I don't get into second guessing the grades assigned by either NGC or PCGS, so I very infrequently and only with strong counsel ever cross over or resubmit a coin. I submitted a coin once that I thought was a strong candidate for re-submission and received it back with the same grade. All that money spent for a new holder and nothing more. In a lot of respects submitting coins is like rolling the dice. Whatever you decide to do, I hope that it works out for you and is the most cost effective way towards accomplishing your collecting goals.

Gary

[Six Mile Rick]

Yankee, Go through your coins and pick the top 20 that you would want graded. Try your best to figure the grade that best suits your purpose. Box up the coins and take them to a coin dealer near you and get a second opinion. That may let you know where to invest your money.

 

Good Luck!!!

[Yankeejose]

Thanks Gary and Rick- great suggestions. I have been taking a few coins to my local dealer for him to help with my my grading skills. I have been looking closer at the possible spread between grades and I now I see some of these are not worth the risk.

 

And yes- I forgot to include the shipping cost to ship it to them! And your right - most of the time I can find already graded coins cheaper than retail!

[Mokiechan]

Gary and Rick nailed it. Great advice as always from two veterans of the Forum.

 

Later,

Malcolm

[steph1942-migration]

I've thought about this, often, since becoming a member. There seems to be numerous reasons for submitting our coins. If, as you refer to, it's a question of coin worth, we can't base our submittal choices based on the value of the coin today. Let's say NGC was around in 1909 and you were considering sending in a 1909-S Lincoln Cent. Looking at the value of that coin in 1909 and checking submittal costs, without a doubt, that coin would be kept in your RAW collection, if kept at all. We really don't know the future worth of our coins so if looking long term, don't submit your coins based on today's value.

Others submit coins to improve their Registry scores. I'm a member of the Registry and can see how one can get involved to the point of foolishness. Like trying to win an auction on Ebay, even when the coin being chased can be purchased more cheaply using "Buy it Now" The Registry is a good tool for the grading companies as it creates a situation where we may grade a coin for no other reasons then to add a few points to our score. Personally, I think the Registry is an excellent place to keep an updated inventory of our collections. It becomes dangerous when we spend money for the competiveness it creates, my opinion.

Another reason, an excellent reason, to grade your coin is to provide protection for it. To have it holdered not only displays it nicely, it keeps it from harm.