u/modest_savant

OK, so I just bought an MS 67 graded 2026 dime off eBay. I haven’t received it yet. I personally think these things are cool.

Relevant flashback: I remember when the state quarters came out and I was chasing mint products like a fool. I was trying to find rolls in circulation. I was buying from the US mint. And I was even sending in business strikes to be graded. But despite going through many many rolls of coins, almost all of the grades came back MS 66 or lower despite the fact that they looked flawless or near flawless to my eye. At that time, the early state quarters were probably worth $100 in MS 66 but they were worth $300-$500 in the MS 67. In fact, it seemed like many of the grades topped out at MS 67. Like you didn’t even see higher grades because they didn’t exist. It was like the grading services needed to protect the people paying $300 for their MS 67 coins, so they refused to make MS 68 coins.

So here we are today. I’m late to the party. When these dimes came out, and the half dollars came out, I thought these were cool and unique coins, and I am really drawn to the dime. I think they’re beautiful. I’ve always been a sucker for liberty head coins in general. So when the dime came out, I knew it was a matter of time before I bought one, but I wasn’t going to go looking for them. Too busy. Too much effort for what I felt would be too little gain. More power to the people that do it though because I did it myself back in 1999.

But with my purchase today, I’m wondering about the psychology of the value of these types of coins moving forward. Here’s what I mean: First the coin comes out and they sell for big money in the raw state, and then they get cheaper as more continue to be produced, found, and put up for sale. Smart roll sellers lower prices to move their supply But then the graded coins come out, and those prices spike, but then they drop. But the fun thing about crashing markets is that sometimes there is opportunity when the market crashes too hard. Like maybe people are trying so hard to cash in on the slab coin profits that they are selling things cheap because they are racing the other sellers to get that last bit of profit before the profit disappears. And then at that point, the price will rebound.

So I guess my question is what are your thoughts on these coins and their long-term value? Are we in the stage where people are selling the slabs too cheap? Are we in the stage where they haven’t begun to takeoff yet because there’s a heck of a lot of people out there like my wife who didn’t even know those coins exist yet? Or is the party over and whatever you spend on these slabs or coins better kept in your bank until next year when they’re much cheaper?

Is this a cycle and where do you think we are in the cycle? Are the grading companies going to start protecting the higher grades like they did with the state quarters? I’d love to hear your opinions and past observations.