This evening I watched an ancient coin
auction go through most of the lots. I do this occasionally and I find it entertaining. There was one coin far into the
auction I was interested in and thought I might have a shot at it. So I watched until and a little past that one. This is an
auction house I have never won a coin at and is one that consistently gets high prices. I didn't get this coin tonight, but I have some observations and a few questions from the experience.
First, they were getting some really high prices, including for coins I am familiar with that went for prices higher than I would have thought. Now, there were a lot of high
quality coins, so higher prices were not unexpected. But the actual prices realized were often quite beyond this, but watching led to some thoughts.
First, probably 80-90% of the coins were
NGC slabbed. Secondly, I think a lot of the slabbed coins were overgraded. Now, I see overgrading a lot, but one would think a respected grading service wouldn't overgrade coins. Obviously, it is in their best interests as far as customers are concerned to do so, but no service should do this, even if tempted or to get more business. But, that is just not necessarily how things
work in reality. Interestingly, the coin I was going for wasn't slabbed, which is one reason I thought I
had a shot. And honestly, that coin did not go for a ridiculous
price, just more than I was willing to pay. No harm no foul on that.
So, some questions given that my experience is that most ancients collectors do not like slabbed coins and some hate them. Yet it appears that many
auction houses like them, it seems like some only want slabbed coins. Seems like there is a dichotomy going on.
1. Am I right in thinking that slabbed coins, regardless of grade, go for higher prices?
2. Even though
NGC specifically doesn't guarantee the authenticity of ancients, does a slab pretty much imply to buyers (and
auction houses/dealers) that they are, in fact, authentic? If so, this seems like it could be problematic.
3. Do
auction houses/dealers verify
attribution of slabbed coins or do they accept what is stated by the grading service?
4. Given that many (most) ancient collectors do not approve of slabbed coins, who is
buying these coins? Collectors? Investors? Hedge funds? I suppose in the world that
NGC wants, all coins will be slabbed and we won't have a
choice. As an aside, as a collector, I hate when investors get involved and drive up prices. Obviously,
auction houses/dealers want to maximize
price and don't care who their buyers are.
5. Again given that many (most) ancient collectors hate slabbed coins, how do we collectively defeat or get rid of that unnecessary and expensive process? How do we get
auction houses/dealers to discourage the use of slabbing? Is it possible (I think not). It has already destroyed, for me, the US and modern world coin collecting world, as well as such things as baseball cards, Stamps, comics, and you name it. This is the eptimony of creating a service and making it seem necessary.
6. Finally, even the grading drives me crazy and this isn't limited to just slabbed coins. What the neck is a "
Choice"
Fine or a "
Choice" VF? I mean, is it
fine of VG or VF or XF? These additional qualifiers like "
Choice" or "Near" or "About" drive me crazy. Don't even get me started on the numbering systems used for modern coins. There is no way anyone can actually ten the difference between a 63 and 64. I like grading, but let's get real here .
Late night musings and rants over for now. LOL.
Virgil