The Silver Dollar Expo in St. Louis, Missouri

I second-guessed going to this show because I was so busy at our office. It was hard not to go because the venue is on site with the hotel. Most dealers go for dealer-to-dealer transactions so some see the public as in the way. I know this sounds snotty, uppity and cocky or whatever word you may think but the dealer-to-dealer transaction is extremely important right now due to the rare coin market being so hot.

One of my friends I see at about 20 shows per year, purchased $50,000 in rare coins and was excited to spend the money. He will be going to Baltimore in two weeks and he must continually upgrade his inventory or he would be out of business so dealer-to-dealer transactions are crucial.

I flew in Friday night and wondered how many dealers would be left when I arrived at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Most of the dealers arrive Wednesday and leave Saturday so by the time I got there approximately 1/10 of the dealers had left.  It is possible that I missed some good purchases and it was about 3 1/2 hours of organized chaos as dealers were packing up, but this worked to Oklahoma Coin, Gold and Silver’s advantage.

In a future blog I will detail a few of the better examples of coins purchased, a few with populations of 9, 23, 300 and 400 that were tremendous buys. These are all in PCGS holders and were purchased right because of the timing. I will also illustrate how valuable these coins are because of being at a show outside of Oklahoma City. We see a tremendous amount of coins coming through our office but not the numismatic coins in PCGS holders that we like to see.

Rainbow Toning and Artificial Toning

Many novices frown on a coin that has color but a true dealer or expert will see the toning as an original look to that coin. A coin that has patina, or color of its own is highly prized by a numismatic mind.

While coloring can be looked at as a good thing, there is such a thing as an artificially toned coin. These artificially toned coins are becoming more common these days due to the increased value of patina and the common mistake of accepting artificial as original.

While most consumers are not aware, PCGS is very aware of artificially toned coins that they are seeing. PCGS is very apprehensive when grading a perfectly toned coin. One of the most recent coins sent back to me in a genuine holder was a beautifully colored pinkish-red tone that PCGS deemed to have been cleaned. The PCGS graders are human and can err and because of that, although I believe they are the most credible graders, I many times question their grading.

When putting together PCGS certified coins for retirement or to build a registry set, you really want the best you can buy. And again, the reason you buy PCGS is because they are the best.

A final thought; an artificially toned coin that cannot be certified shouldn’t be in your collection. Thank you and please call or email if you have any questions.

Altered and Cleaned Surfaces

In our last blog about genuine graded coins, I mentioned cleaned and altered surfaces so I’ll be elaborating on those two types today.

PCGS seems to be tightening up on the grading at this time. They are rejecting  lightly cleaned or polished coins. There are many coins that have altered surfaces from dipping, brushing or other types of very abrasive cleaning but some of mine that were sent back were really a surprise to me. I’ve had great success with grading but could have had much better with a less stringent grading standard. I try to win more than I lose and, although they’re very necessary and beneficial, the standards are raising in today’s grading so the losses are becoming more common. However, the wins are still worth the losses because when a coin is graded by PCGS it is a guaranteed grade.

Please call if you have more questions.

PCGS Coins-What is genuine grade?

I’m sorry I’ve been lax on staying on top of my blog. Recently, the question came to light, what is PCGS genuine grade mean? The term genuine means the coin has been altered, cleaned or damaged. Most people think this is crazy because every coin has some possibility of being altered, cleaned or damaged when they are 100 years old.

The PCGS grading service is the toughest and therefore mot widely recognized as the best. 19 of the last 45 coins I sent off to PCGS have come back with either altered surfaces or cleaned as outlined on the detailed worksheet accompanying each order.

One coin that I truly believe hasn’t been cleaned would have been a $1,000 but because it is now in a PCGS holder, it is now a $200 coin. This is the risk taken when certifying coins and similar situations are exactly why many dealers don’t want to send their coins in. Many don’t want to pay for the certification and run the risk of their coins coming back genuine.

In the future, I’ll touch on mis-grading as an advantage to a dealer to make more money off the public. This is a deep subject in which the dealer can be viewed as a conman because he is mis-grading the coins to sell them at a higher price.

Please call for more information.

Numismatics: Recent Upgrades

I just received four packages from PCGS this week. Even though the grading standards are tougher than ever, only two of the coins in the last order I sent in came back graded genuine meaning the coin had altered surfaces or has been cleaned.

One example of the upgrades was an 1804 half cent that I bought for $200. It came back in an XF 45 brown grade. This means this was a $400 increase on a $200 investment. The likelihood of getting this coin back as an XF 40 was great but to come back as an XF 45 was even better.

It’s not all about the $400 profit; it is about preserving a valuable coin. This coin is a piece of history with an incredible past; there are only58 graded in XF 45. The population of these coins in 1803 was on 92,000-that number jumped to 1,055,000 in 1804.

As a coin dealer, the excitement mounts when a 205 year-old coin comes back graded in such good condition. The money comes secondary to preserving a piece of history.

Stay tuned for more

Numismatic Coins

In my opinion, if one of every four coins sent in gets graded, it is worth the time and money. Keeping this in mind, I still find myself getting frustrated that some of my numismatic coins are sent back in a genuine holder due to some cleaned or altered surfaces.

A numismatic coin is a coin that has some history, a low mintage and the potential to be placed in holder to protect the coin. One of the surprises I’ve had since sending my coins is an 1881 Carson City. I was hoping for an MS 63 grade and was pleased when it was sent back to me graded at MS 64. That on grading point was a difference of $100.

As much as the service pays off, a minor knick or scratch can cause the coin to come back as damaged or altered. Although it is really splitting hairs, it is worth the risk of sending them in.

My 11 outstanding coins leave me with the simple excitement to see what coins will be graded and which will come back in a genuine holder. One of the good things about a genuine holder is it is sealed so that the coin can never be damaged. Not long ago, they would send genuine coins back in what was called a “body bag” among dealers, which was just a plastic container that did nothing for the safety of the coin.

Back to the numismatic PCGS grading.

I highly recomment looking at the grade on a population report and the price guide, it can really give you a feel for how many have been preserved over the years and how rare your coin really is.

Meaty PCGS Slabbing Information

In yesterday’s blog I mentioned an upcoming series on PCGS coins. In my 25 years of coin-related travel, I have seen PCGS become the number one respected grading service. Initially, many dealers frowned on the idea but now it has become a helpful tool for protecting buyers and sellers investments. It helps cut through the chaos, deception and dangerous practice of overgrading coins.

I send many coins in to PCGS and many come back in a genuine holder, which means it either has an altered surface or has been cleaned. I’ll go into more depth about genuine coins in the future.

For today, I’ll be focusing on the Sheldon grading scale. The originator, Mr. Sheldon, was a brilliant grader. His grading scale goes from 1 to 70 – 1 being the worst and 70 being the best. The average nice coin is considered a 60 to 67 or mint state 60 to 67. Higher end coins have a lower population; this population is kept by PCGS. The coin I alluded to yesterday that came back graded AU55 was the only AU55 graded since 2007, mostly because there is only 6 in the world. When tracking or pricing coins, population is very important-I’ll address this more in a later blog.

We try not to look at an AU (almost uncirculated) or an XF (extra fine) as a hindrance in our business. Many coins like an 1891 Carson City will hardly be affordable in an XF grade. An extra fine grade on an 1891 Carson City is $115.00. If you have an1889 Carson City graded XF, the cost is $2,250.00.

One example of a lesser-graded coin that can be very expensive is an 1895 proof VG (very good), which is $15,500. The very good grade is not a good grade but in that coin it is very desirable because so few exist. Population is a key factor in grading coins.

Another reason why PCGS grading is important is because in 1918, the Pittman Act was passed which required the melting of many silver dollars. PCGS gives you an accurate amount in existence to date and how many of those have been graded.

Tomorrow we’ll move on to the next topic; I always welcome your email or phone call.

To Certify Or Not To Certify

I spent an hour and 15 minutes with a customer yesterday talking about certified coins versus raw coins. I told him my thoughts and told him to go sleep on it, pray on it and assimilate the information given over two different meetings totaling two hours. This young man wants to become one of the first students enrolled in a class I’m going to teach at Francis Tuttle on numismatics. He already has 15 to 20 major topics addressed so he may not need the class!

He is a bright young man; he knows he doesn’t know it all, he knows I don’t know it all but he does know that he can avoid decreases in his portfolio and wasted efforts in the wrong direction by listening to someone that has incurred those losses with the experience of 45 years.

We have touched on the gambit of unscrupulous dealers to coin grading to the human error in coin grading and the conservative nature in today’s coin grading with PCGS. As you know by now, I’m all over the place. There is too much information for me to give out in one blog.

If you have numismatic coins that are rare and you’d like to know the upside potential, you might let us; Rod Powers and my daughter Jessica help you with this. We charge little to have your coins sent off to be certified. We ship through economy which takes a bit longer but the chances of getting a coin back genuine are better than using the 1-70 grade that is based on the Sheldon grading scale.

This topic is too deep, we probably need 30 blogs on grading coins so this will be the start of a series of blogs. I’ll leave you with an example. I purchased a dime for $60 and sent it in to PCGS to have it graded. It came back as an AU55. An AU55 dime on the PCGS website is valued at $140 but because of the beautiful rainbow toning, it could pay as much as $300.

We’ll finish this in a later blog.

Dollar-Cost Averaging

Following up yesterday’s blog, a second person asked me about investing in gold when he gets a big sum of money. I said stop right there, let’s change that thought process. Start buying small amounts of gold immediately. The old term “dollar-cost averaging” is really looming large as we see this market continue to go strong.

If you put $100 a week or every two weeks toward metals, you will never be hurt. If you buy this way, you can buy on the up or the down side and your dollar-cost averaging will really work for you. I practice what I preach and can tell you, if done right, it really works. I used to invest once or twice a year but now I find I get better long-term results using dollar-cost averaging and doing it once a week.

I see many people afraid to admit they don’t have $1,000 to invest in gold and I can’t tell them enough how wrong that notion is. The key is to find a dealer that will work with you and treat you as if your $100 purchase as if it was a $1,000 purchase. Flee the dealer that doesn’t have time for you that only wants to sell you a big-ticket item. If a dealer is too proud to work with you find someone that will be real with you.

Some of my customers have used this method. They started with small amounts and, over time, have made enough money to continually upgrade their coin collection or metals portfolio.

In the future I will address the importance of buying gold near spot with the exception of numismatic coins. But, for now, think small if you have to and you will do just fine.

Market Soooo Strong

When I look at the metals market today, I am truly amazed by two things. The first thing being that, with all of the unrest, the markets are not higher. The second thing is that prognosticators that predict doom and gloom also say that gold should be in the $800 because it is summer vacation season.

Back to the first topic, I truly believe the metals are ready for a roaring, exciting, major upturn. Gold is within $70 of the all-time high and, as I always state on silver, silver still had the legs to run much higher.

The plus signs for this summer are incredible compared to other summers. We’ll usually see the market drop because of vacation time but this is one of the few investments that has not seen the ups and downs like the stock market.

We at Oklahoma Coin, Gold & Silver, Inc. are excited to see our friends with a little bit of a positive attitude about the stock market these days. I read that the market has 12 straight says in the black but it is still down 66%. The point I’m trying to make is that there are signs of recovery. Although there are those signs, people are naturally still agonizing on what to do with their money, where and how to invest it ad also asking if they should put all of it in metals because the metals are so strong. Though the metals are strong, I stand by my advice to only invest 15% to 20% of your liquid assets in metals. You must stay diversified.

As I watch the metals have a few ups and downs, I feel good knowing that we have a balanced portfolio of extremely rare coins, rare coins, generic coins and numerous forms of bullion. This is definitely what I would suggest for you.

I’ll be addressing four major questions this week. The first two were asked by a man in my church class that was wondering how to get started from nothing and if he needs a large sum of money to invest. The other question is how to go about sending coins in to be certified and how to deal with cleaned to damaged coins.