How To Know Whether You Should Grade Your Coins
A question a lot of hobbyists have is whether or not to grade their coin(s). I just made this as a general guide from my viewpoint, make the decision for yourself. But I have seen a lot of "Should I grade this MS-61 1945 wheat cent?" so I figured you could read this blog and decide for yourself.
The first (and most of the time, deciding) factor is the price of grading to the price of your coin. Why would you grade your MS-61 1945 wheat cent for $17-$19 (plus $10 shipping) when the coin is only worth $1 at best? It just doesn't make any sense. Especially if you are planning on selling the coin, because even if you just wanted to break even, you would have to charge $30 for that $1 just because it is in a TPG slab.
The second way to decide whether or not to grade your coins is to ask yourself, "Why am I grading this?" If you are doing it because you just think it would look nice in a slab, don't. That's not a very good reason to spend $30, but, again, it's your money. Just take this as my viewpoint. If you are grading it to help it sell, get an opinion from someone else knowledgeable. If you think your coin in MS-63, which would make it worth, say, $200, you might want to grade it. But maybe that second opinion has sharper eyes than you and notices it is actually a AU-58, which makes it worth $50. That saved you the cost of grading, and the anger of wasting your money for something that won't pay off.
Lastly, I have noticed an uptick of people building set registries, which is awesome. But, say you are collecting Franklin Half Dollars. I've seen MS-65 1963-D coins go for an average of $20. Why would you buy the coin, and pay another $30 just to have it graded for your set? Why not just pay the little bit extra to buy it pregraded (in the instance with the 1963-D, graded MS-65s were going for around $25)? You just saved yourself $25 o the coin to buy it pregraded! This seems kind of obvious, but a lot of collectors I have met have made this mistake, so just wanted to put that in here so you guys know not to.
Keep collecting (intelligently),
Thatcoinguy
Comments
I. R. Bama
Level 5
There is an unintended consequence of using tpgs to grade your coins; one does not learn to grade their own coins or maintain that skill. The whole thing inflates the value of a coins, sometimes not legitimately. I do like the slabs though. They are useful.
AC Coin$🌎
Level 6
Great blog , l agree .
Kevin Leab
Level 4
I agree ... I've never personally sent any coins to a TPG and I was absolutely against them when they first started doing that. My thoughts were that I'd rather be able to hold that raw piece of history in my hand than in the plastic. I can understand the reason for it now, especially for expensive key dates that are prone to be counterfeited.
Kepi
Level 6
It may cost about $30-35 for the grading tier, however then you add in all the extras... Grading fee's, Service fee's, all the optional fee's plus Handling Fee's and finally Shipping Fee's. I think the cheapest i got away with for submitting a coin was about$68.00 total. That was with NGC. Just make sure the coin is special to you or has the possibility of being worth more money. ; )
Kepi
Level 6
ANACS is always offering good deals. When submitting coins if the "cheapest" is what you are looking for then that's great! Carry on... ; )
Jackson14
Level 4
ANACS is cheaper. My dad submitted 4 coins and they charged him only $120.
Longstrider
Level 6
Nice arguments in favor of NOT sending in your coins. I have to agree for the most part. I personally was sending in POW chits to PMG for grading. It was running about $100 and takes months and months. I have stopped doing that. Now I just put them in a nice sleeve and put in the Frank/Seeley numbers myself. They look great. I also agree if you are looking for a coin and plan on TPGing, by it already slabbed. My opinion. It's all about money generally.
Mike
Level 7
Its up to you to make your best decision on weather its worth sending. Remember the old coins that were graded are now worth money. Modern coins will get old and that's when the price will be up there. I found with cents it should grade a MS 67. Then you get a good price. Thanks for the blog!
Rebelfire76
Level 4
This is something I’ve been debating, and why I’ve personally held off on submitting coins for grading until recently. I’ve made a couple slab purchases, and have only submitted two of my nicest Morgan’s. I have a few more expensive items I’d like to submit, but as values for those coins don’t vary much between graded and OGP, those coins may stay in OGP a little while longer.
Jackson14
Level 4
I totally agree. Thanks.