I'm new. If I buy proof coins from the U.S. mint, should I get them graded? 1 1

[Rindukamu]

There is alot to know.  What I've learned is that graded coins get you more in the future.  I'm building a collection for my grandkids.  I'm planning on multi decade holding of my gold and silver.  I've bought at auctions, I've bought at the U.S. mint, from friends.  What I've found is that MS70 coins are worth much more, especially if you hold onto them.  I'm not worried about the grading fee as my holding period should cover that.  Any advice or what to read/look at would be greatly appreciated.  I'm loving this!

[Coinbuf]

Hmmm where to start, welcome to the forum.   There is no requirement to have coins graded and slabbed by a TPG (third party grader) anyone can if they choose to but it is an expensive process with no guaranties as to what grades you might receive.  From your post is seems that you are concentrating on modern and US mint products be it proof or circulation coinage.   Yes, as a general rule a coin that approaches or achieves the highest possible grade might/will command the highest prices.   However, is it not easy to get a grade of MS70, very few coins receive a grade that lofty, even for modern mint coinage.   Most of the coins which are blessed with the highest grades are submitted by dealers who submit thousands of coins via the bulk submission process, or by experienced submitters that pour over hundreds of mint sets looking for the very best coins.   Buying a roll of coins form the mint, submitting them and receiving even one MS70 grade is not very likely, that would be somewhat like hitting the lottery, possible but the odds are against it.

Proof 70 (PF70) is a different story as a decent percentage of modern US mint proof coinage will be graded PF70.   If you buy 10 proof coins from the mint it is very likely that at least a few will grade as PF70.   Problem is you will lose money and have a hard time selling off all the PF69 or lower graded coins, and you will receive a few of those too.

As to what to read, well there is not much literature that is dedicated to modern mint products, there are tons of books on classic coinage.   The best you can hope for when buying mint products is that you happen to buy something that years later is considered to be a key or low mintage coin.   The problem is that even if a particular coin is produced in low mintage most of the production of mint proof products are saved so it will never be scarce or truly rare, this is really again much like playing the lottery and hoping you get a winning ticket.

You are indeed lucky if your heirs are truly interested in coins or holding onto your collection, I would say that close to 80% of collectors end up selling their collections prior to passing because they have no heirs that ae interested in the collection aside from what they can sell it for.

I hope you enjoy collecting, it is the study, history, and collecting of knowledge about coins that is the major driver for many collectors.

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Coinbuf

[Sandon]

   Welcome to the NGC chat board. As the NGC Registry forum is for topics relating to the NGC coin registry, this topic should have been posted on the "Newbie Coin Collecting Questions" forum, where it will likely be seen by more chat board members. (The Administrator will likely move it there.)   

On 8/16/2023 at 3:29 PM, Rindukamu said:

There is a lot to know.

   As a collector of U.S. coins for over fifty years, I agree. Respectfully, that is essentially all of your statement with which I agree.

   My answer to the question asked in the title of your topic is an emphatic NO!  As a new collector who has not developed at least competent basic grading skills, the last thing you should be considering is sending any coins to grading services, at least not without the advice of an experienced dealer or collector.  Moreover, in my opinion, no one should remove modern collectors' coins from their attractive and usually relatively compact mint packaging and send them to grading services to be placed in bulky holders. Virtually all of these usually common coins will grade "68", "69", or "70", all of which grades are hard even for experienced eyes to tell apart and would traditionally have been subsumed into the "Superb Gem" adjectival grade and priced the same. 

On 8/16/2023 at 3:29 PM, Rindukamu said:

What I've found is that MS70 coins are worth much more, especially if you hold onto them. 

   I consider the "70" grade, which the grading services base on a quick inspection under low (5x or less) magnification, to be nothing more than a marketing gimmick by dealers in modern coins and grading services. The only "70" graded coins I own I bought out of "junk slab" boxes at coin shows and paid far less than what it would have cost to submit them for grading.  A large percentage of both proof (and lately even uncirculated) collectors' issues and bullion coins of recent years submitted to grading services have been graded "70", so for these issues, even if you consider the grade to be legitimate, it isn't rare. (Were you aware that PCGS alone has graded over 6.6 million coins--all modern collectors' and bullion issues--"70"?) Population Totals (pcgs.com). @Coinbuf is probably correct that most of these coins were hand selected by experienced graders, but they have become so numerous to make any premium valuation highly questionable.

On 8/16/2023 at 3:29 PM, Rindukamu said:

What I've learned is that graded coins get you more in the future.  I'm building a collection for my grandkids.  I'm planning on multi decade holding of my gold and silver.

   I don't know where you "learned" this, but it isn't necessarily so. Serious collectors don't take the grade on a grading service tag at face value. Non-modern coins of the same issue can vary widely in appearance (strike, toning, luster, abrasions, "eye appeal"), and anyone who has checked the prices realized at a major coin auction on successive lots of coins of the same issue given the same grade by the same grading service knows that such lots can realize markedly different prices. Grading service standards for the same grades have changed over time, and there has periodically been discussion of changing the 70-point numerical grading system to a 100-point system or, more recently, to a ten-point system with intermediate decimal points such as that offered by NGC to a group of modern coin dealers under the "NGCX" label.  By the time your grandchildren inherit your collection the grades indicated on today's holders may be obsolete, just as the adjectival grading standards I learned in the 1970s are quite different from the standards used today.  What is important is to learn about how to grade and otherwise evaluate coins yourself and develop good judgment and taste in selecting coins for your collection. Quality never goes out of style!   

On 8/16/2023 at 3:29 PM, Rindukamu said:

Any advice or what to read/look at would be greatly appreciated.

   We have an expression that goes back before my time, Buy the book before the coin!  Nowadays some of your reading can be done online. I don't know what you've been reading, but the basics are described in the initial post on the following topic:

  For a more thorough discussion of the issues regarding the "70" grade, see the comments that I and others made in the following topic:

 

[Rindukamu]

First of all, let me say thank you to you both for replying.  When I look back on my post, it appeared rather scattered.  Reading through your responses, I should "read the book" (get some education) before getting online and just buying coins.  I appreciate you both for taking the time to give me feedback.  I will be asking more questions at a later date.  Cheers.

 

P.S.  I have 5 kids.  One of them is very interested to take over from me when I'm gone.