Yup. Because the 1st Gen PCGS slabs weren't "sonically sealed" like their current slabs, there was space for the coin to wiggle or "rattle" around inside the holder.
I've always wondered about those too. Wouldn't the coin get damaged if it was 'rattling' around in the slab?
What they said, but OGH and rattlers are two different things. OGH stands for Old Green Holder and they are not rattlers. The OGH slabs have a green inset instead of the current blue ones.
The design for the OGH holders was actually a rattler inside of another plastic shell. There was not a lot of space, sometimes just enough for the coin to wiggle a bit.
It's also common to see some coins turned in a rattler slab 45, 90, 135 degrees because of the spare tolerance in the slab.
Those were before PCGS placed that clear rubber-like ring on the coins before slabbing them, and they rattled around in the holder.
And here I thought it had something to do with PCGS overgrading them. then you would buy one, it would be overgraded and you would get bit on the price.. Just like a rattlesnake biting you.. OK, so bad joke.. Yes its because the coins in fact did rattle around in the tomb errr slab..
NO.. For the Last 12 years there's is NO DAMAGES on my Loose 1995 Double Denomination. Mr. Alan Hager choose the Penny Holder instead a Dime Holder on my Double Denomination as you can see in my Video. The 11c is much more bigger than Normal Dime and smaller on a Normal Cent size. So it is in between of the two sizes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcMElRG0bKk
Yes, they were sonically sealed. The sonic sealing occurs around the outer edge of the slab, not inside it. All of them have been sonically sealed since day 1. I think you're mixed up about the slabs. Conder can correct me if I am wrong, but I think the rattler was the first slab used by PCGS. The first slab within a slab had a white label. Then came the doiley slabs, they were slab within a slab also. The OGH was the 4th kind of slab used by PCGS. And I'm pretty sure the OGH was the first slab to use the inner, soft plastic ring to hold the coin. And they used them until near the end of '98. So the OGH isn't quite as old as most folks think they are.
There was a change in the OGH in 1995. Before that time the color in the labels was not colorfast an they would fade to all different colors. These have large digits in the serial number and and start at or to the left of the left edge of the barcode. Starting in mid 1995 the changed the ink in the labels and from then on they stayed green. These have smaller digits in the serial number and it starts to the right of the left edge of the barcode. I refer to these as OGH and NGH (new green holders). Most people do not differentiate them and do not realize they are different. Then they run into one of the off color labels and wonder what it is. The rattler holders do not damage the coins in them because the inside of the lenses over the coin are concave and do not touch the surfaces of the coin. The only place where the coin can touch the lens is at the outer edge of the rim. So even if it rotates the surfaces of the coin do not rub against the plastic.
Sometimes you can still find nice coins in these "rattler" slabs... and if you think they are undergraded you don't need to lose the old holder. Just send them to CAC for a gold sticker and it will almost certainly be suddenly worth more than the next grade up anyways Here's a pretty one:
