Why can't a slab be 100% airtight and watertight ?

Maybe even vacuum packed or filled with an inert gas like nitrogen. If it ever were in a flood or something, just wipe the case off.

I think the technology exists.

 

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My guess is that while the technology exists, it is probably cost-prohibitive for the average collector. Someone with more specialized knowledge can verify or refute this (I'm just speculating).

 

I think they are saving it for a future re-grade/ re-slab campaign down the line. You can vacuum pack a jar of peanuts, why not a coin ?

 

They can make a slab air , water ,gas tight and anything else you can think of,,,,,,but the cost would send you to the poor house.:rollling:

 

I think you nailed it. They probably could have done it years ago, but you don't want to rush to the best technology available, before you make profits on the lesser technologies first. Similar to what Apple did with the Ipods. Nobody will ever convince me that the technology wasn't there to come out with the multi-colored, Gen. 4 Ipods to begin with. No, they had to come out with the cheap, white, 80s looking one first. And since it was new, everybody bought them. Then the 2s were a big deal and everybody had to have them. Then the 3s, then the 4s, etc...

I think you're exactly right.

 

A can of peanuts doesn't cost a fortune. For as much as it costs to get coins slabbed as it is now, they should be trimmed out in gold flakes.

 

They also don't pay staff a fortune to grade the peanuts before they seal them.

 

You all selling MS70 peanuts?!?!?!???!!???

 

I thought these guys graded 5,000 coins per hour or something like that ?

 

Not sure how much extra it would cost, but sealing the coin 100% air/water tight in a holder would not only seal in the coin, but also seal in whatver air/moisture was inside the slab with the coin. I don't remember everything from high school science, but I'm thinking this could cause problems when shipping the coins or bringing them from hot/cold environments as it would then be possible for moisture to condensate on the inside of the slab and maybe even cause damage to the coin. By not sealing the holder air/water tight, this problem is avoided. I imagine the problem could also be avoided by not only sealing the slab air/water tight but also vacuum sealing the coin. that would be expensive.

 

We need somebody knowledgeable to say how feasible making the thing airtight actually is.

I don't think it would be that hard !

Maybe Funk& Wagnell can hermetically seal it on her front porch as a sub-contractor for PCGS ?

I bet it will come someday, then they'll upgrade it to Nitrogen or something, You have to keep those same coins coming back every few years....

I guess rattlers were accidental ?

 

[video=youtube;K7RWaIURRIQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7RWaIURRIQ[/video]

 

:smile

5,000 coin slabbed per hour? unbelievable..urgh...if they do that maybe all of the grade is MS69...or MS 70....:thumb: hiyaa Lone ranger..

 

That's an exaggeration of course , but I've heard numbers here, of like 6 -30 seconds to grade a coin, for the fees involved let the grader look at the freaking coin for the needed time !

 

It seems like they could put a tight plastic wrap around the slab without much effort. Like a shrink wrap. That would only take a few seconds and it would protect the slab from scratches too.

It wouldn't be too hard to design such a machine. It would look something like a waffle iron.

 

Now, they don't have any concerns about the slab function. If your coin turns bad in one, you are limited to their replacement policy on the coin. If it was advertised that the slab was air tight, whether a vacuum or an inert gas, a failure of the seal could invite serious claims and damages. Filled with an inert gas, a coin shipped by air from long beach or Florida could be exposed to the low air pressure in an unpressurized cargo hold and cause leakage. And how does the owner know it has leaked? Some type of pressure indicator would have to be included within the slab. If a vacuum, a seal damage could suck in whatever air or gas was present. Personally from the physics point of view, I like the current slabs. I can put them into a vacuum ziplock food bag and suck the air out,

Since some good AT occurs with the coins in existing slabs, permanent sealing would limit or stop most of it. I am sure the TPGs would like to close this avenue if they thought they could.
Jim

 

A few generations later ( 5 years ?) we can have a sort of slab with two gasses in it, an internal portion of the slab with either a vacuum or nitrogen ( clear and inert), then an out security seal with a gas that has color, so it is doubly hermetically sealed, and even more difficult for Hop Sing sorts to counterfeit.

I remember before there were slabs, you'd submit to ANA ( ANACS ?) and get the coin back with a grade and a photo to prove it.

 

So it can be AT if it occurs after slabbed ? If so , even better to have the slab be airtight ? Infuse the slabbed coin with whatever gas turns it the prettiest colors ?

 

If you had a coin say copper, and it was graded MS or Pf-67, and you knew that was way high, it was a 65-66 at best, you could in theory make the coin turn in the slab ( say some spots), maybe blow through the slab like it was an instrument, get some saliva on it and that 67 will turn spotty and then conned PCGS. The companies should want to fight any fraud by having the seal be perfect ?

 

Are any slabs already sealed....I'd bet some are perfect, like you could sink them in the bottom of your piranha tank , and they don't leak !