If the Slabs Lie, DONT BUY!!!  That's easy enough.  If you have been buying slabbed and certified coins for years, this guide will not be helpful, but if you are fairly new to the certified coin world, please read this... 

Slabbing a coin does not make it worth thousands of dollars as lots of sellers would like you to believe.  ONLY CERTIFICATION makes a coin worth a premium over non-certified "raw" coins!!!  Here's the kicker.... there are only 3 certification companies IN THE WORLD that are respected enough to accurately certify a coin!   PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation) are both GREAT!  ANACS (American Numismatic Association Certification Service) is decent.  If one of these three companies did not grade the coin IT MIGHT AS WELL BE RAW!!!

There are thousands of coins on ebay that are supposedly 'certified' by other companies...such as NC(Numistrust Corporation) HCGS(Hallmark Coin Grading Service) ANI(American Numismatic Institute) NCGS(National Coin Grading Service) UGS(Universal Grading Service) and who knows how many more...  These are crap.  Some of them are actually real companies who simply do a terrible job of grading.  Some of them are one guy who sits in his garage and puts little stickers on cases and tries to sell them to you.  Notice how almost every one of these grading services tries to be as similar in its packaging and name to NGC and PCGS.  That is to trick you into buying the coin.  Don't do it!!

When you buy a certified coin, you are protecting your purchase of an authentic coin which has been graded accurately.  Only PCGS and NGC have the history and reputation to command value for this service.  When you look at a crappy companies graded coin and they base its value on the PCGS price guide, you can see why they exist.  They will grade just about any old crappy coin to be worth MUCH MUCH more than it really is!!!  Just as n example:  There is an 1887-S Gold Half-Eagle for sale on Ebay right now...it has been "certified" by NC(Numistrust Corporation) as MS-64.  Its value based on PCGS price reports is $2900.  Just two grades down as a MS-62, its value is just $330.  These companies purposefully inflate the grade to try to inflate the price.  DONT FALL FOR IT!!!