Slabbing ancients in the U.S. market

[lrbguy]

In contemplating selling some coins through Heritage, I have to consider the challenge of slabbing.  If Heritage mandates that coins it sells must be slabbed, what would you do? 

1. Pay to have them slabbed.

2. Allow them to be slabbed at the house expense.

3. Ask that they not be slabbed if sold at a reduction to the house.

4. Take your business elsewhere.

 

 

[Qcumbor]

You don't like your coins to be slabbed, Okay, and I'm with you on that one

Apparently you are considering parting with some of them, so maybe you won't bother about those any more once they're not yours any more, and apparently again some people agree to pay bigger money to get them if they are slabbed. It's a free world ! let them pay more, you'll get more dollars (I would expect Heritage to slab them at their expense though)

Should it be too painful for you to know that coins that were once yours are slabbed, then go for another venue

Q

Edited July 23 by Qcumbor

[Salomons Cat]

What kind of coins do you intend to sell? If they are relatively common but expensive, and achieving AU or MS grading is realistic, I would recommend using a slab.

Otherwise, it might be better to sell them without a slab, potentially through CNG if you’re based in the US.

[Rand]

I do not beilive Heritage would sell unslabbed coins.

If the coins are likely to have high grades, selling through Heritate would bring good prices.

If the coins have problems, and do not get high grades they are likely to be sold for less than unslabbled coins due to buyers becoming aware of the problems. 

'People pay more for slabs' is a misconception - most pay for condition/grades of the coins and for not them being slabbed.

Edited July 23 by Rand

[AncientJoe]

Can you share images of some of them here? Heritage with slabs is great for some coins and absolutely the wrong choice for others. It'll entirely depend on the coins you're considering selling.

[Original Skin Coins]

When I reached out to Heritage about a possible consignment in the past, their policy for handling grading submission in-house was to charge a 15% grading fee on the final sale price of the coin (in addition to whatever normal consignment fee they charge you). It's possible you can negotiate to have them waive that fee but if not, it would likely be much cheaper for you to submit any higher-value coins for grading yourself. Lower-value coins you may come out ahead, considering the grading fee plus shipping costs both ways.

I agree with the others that the decision on whether or not to have the coins graded will heavily depend on the coins themselves. 

Edited July 23 by Original Skin Coins

[lrbguy]

I was told by a friend on staff that Heritage does not recommend slabbing coins valued less than $100, and will sell to the "slab free" market as the consignor may prefer.  Still looking into it myself, but wanted to get a sense from the list.  There was a time when slabbing was treated by collectors of ancients as the unforgiveable sin.  But time, and collectors, change. 

[ela126]

Slabbing ancients is expensive. If you don’t expect the coin to see for at least 300 each, I’d go with a different auction house.

years ago I would only buy the */5 */5 slabs, looking pass the lower tiered grab slabs.. it costs 55-60 dollar per coin to have the full grading…. Doing that to a 150 coin is definitely not worth it. Go to cng or others.

if you have a rare or high grade coin though, you can make your money back and more at Heritage, $1,000+ coins will benefit at heritage with good slabs.

[Roman Collector]

3 hours ago, Rand said:

I do not beilive Heritage would sell unslabbed coins.

If the coins are likely to have high grades, selling through Heritate would bring good prices.

If the coins have problems, and do not get high grades they are likely to be sold for less than unslabbled coins due to buyers becoming aware of the problems. 

'People pay more for slabs' is a misconception - most pay for condition/grades of the coins and for not them being slabbed.

I have purchased raw ancients from Heritage. 

[Rand]

6 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

I have purchased raw ancients from Heritage. 

How long ago?

[Hrefn]

My impression is this;  if you have coins which are in pristine condition, which might earn the coveted 5/5 or 5/4 grading, you will probably get more for those coins in a Heritage auction than in any other venue.  If you have coins which are rare, interesting, historically important, but not in outstanding condition, slabbing them may actually be disadvantageous.  Here is a coin which is of great historical interest, but would not do well in a Heritage auction.

Siege coinage of the Venetian garrison besieged in Famagusta, Cyprus.  The city held out for about one year under the command of Marcantonio Bragadin, but surrendered at last in 1571.  The terms of the surrender were immediately violated, the Christian population slaughtered, and Bragadin suffered horrible tortures before he was flayed alive.

Edited July 24 by Hrefn
Duplicate word

[Roman Collector]

3 hours ago, Rand said:

How long ago?

Two years ago, maybe? 

[Rand]

@Roman Collector 

Interesting. 

Non-slabbing was not an option when I submitted the Byzantine part of my collection (except Anastasius) and a couple of Roman coins I no longer wanted in their London office last December. However, NGC grading was the reason for my seller choice. I had doubts about the authenticity of 3 coins and did not want to pass fakes to fellow collectors. Passing NGC was good enough for my consciousness. Heritage spared me of hassle making NGC submission myself.

[Salomons Cat]

What I don't understand is why people don't try selling their coins via Vcoins more often. It's certainly slower, but it depends less on luck, and prices are more predictable. There are plenty of trustworthy dealers on Vcoins. For example, if I wanted to sell my collection, I would ask @Prieure de Sion if he would like to handle it and what percentage of the sales price he would take, as I think that I know him best and he doesn't live too far away from me. Depending on where you live and who you know there is certainly someone available.
(Although I don't know if PdS is available because I haven't asked if he sells private collections and I also don't intend to sell mine. This is just an idea that I had.)

Edited July 24 by Salomons Cat

[David Atherton]

14 hours ago, AncientJoe said:

Can you share images of some of them here? Heritage with slabs is great for some coins and absolutely the wrong choice for others. It'll entirely depend on the coins you're considering selling.

Totally agree with this. Bronze coins will not fair as well as gold or silver when submitted for slabbing.

[John Conduitt]

5 hours ago, Rand said:

@Roman Collector 

Interesting. 

Non-slabbing was not an option when I submitted the Byzantine part of my collection (except Anastasius) and a couple of Roman coins I no longer wanted in their London office last December. However, NGC grading was the reason for my seller choice. I had doubts about the authenticity of 3 coins and did not want to pass fakes to fellow collectors. Passing NGC was good enough for my consciousness. Heritage spared me of hassle making NGC submission myself.

You can buy uncertified coins in the next auction? However it is in their interests to get coins slabbed, as then they will shirk responsibility for authenticity.

I’ve seen a lot of slabbed hammered coins go for modest prices with Heritage. I agree it is all about the coins with high scores. They slab them to attract magpies.