I have a crack problem, I admit it.

Hi, my name is Kirk and I... have a crack problem. What a relief it is to finally admit.

Don't get me wrong, I think that TPGs do a wonderful service. I have hundreds of slabbed coins. Many of them are leftovers of trades and are intended to be sold. But once I decide that I like a coin and plan to keep it, it gets cracked out. Here is my latest batch that got cracked out.

The spot needed a bit of Verdi-care treatment after it was out.

And then it was placed in its new home.

Then joined the party with some old friends.

Pretty sweet...

I can't be the only one with a crack problem here; let's see your crack outs.

 

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i can't stand slabs, except for high grade coins and coins i intend to sell. the only coin i've cracked was an MS63 2014 silver eagle (no idea why it was slabbed in the first place) that i got in a trade. I usually just buy raw.

 

^why would a 2014 eagle so beat up get graded, wth?? maybe anacs free submission?

anyways, kirkuleez = crackhead

 

I cracked a lot of coins many years ago. Now I understand that it was a big mistake. Nothing but a waste of time and money.

 

Me I get anything better slabbed as its not likely to get damaged fits in a slab box and easy to store in my safe and I can handle it all I want and is easy to sell too

 

I bought all 1962, 1964 & 1967 proof set coins in PR67CAM, cracked them out and now store them in 5-coin plastic holders.
https://www.cointalk.com/index.php?threads/1962-Franklin-PR67CAM-set.254855/

That was fun, but I didn't end up as a crackhead... all the other coins/slabs won't be touched.

 

I just much rather coins in an album and am making some albums that will hold the coins in the air-tite. I am doing this for many of my proof sets because danscos just don't to much of a job protecting the coins.

 

I've only cracked out coins that were not from the top 2 and either sold raw,put them in a airtite or submitted to PCGS or NGC

 

I crack almost every coin I get. I like to have raw coins. I have a few slabs that I keep as there is no room in the albums (e.g. 2005-2010 biz strike as album has Satin in the slot).

Currently building a Franklin cameo proof set, and get the slab to show another opinion of the cameo contrast, but crack and into a capital plastic holder for the set.



When putting together my Kennedy set...I purchased some slabbed coins to help me understand the grading. When done with them, they were either sold, or if I could not find a raw coin that was better, I cracked them and put them in Whitman 2x2 Holders I use for the series.



I am just not a fan of the TPG plastic (or oh..special labels or release designations). I do not need someone else's opinion of beauty, to know if the coin was minted early versus late, I just like what I like. I am a collector, not an investor, and yes, I like some high AU coins over low MS..so sure, my collection's value takes a hit...but I like what I see when I look at it.

P.S. Here are some great high AU coins that are awesome

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/post-your-au58s.249632/

 

Personally I'm tempted to buy a fewxold Wayte Raymond albums crack out a bunch of nice but blast white coins and wait 30 years '

 

The Wayte Raymond thing doesn't really work that well anymore, I hear that all of the good stuff that made the coins pretty has degraded over the years. Better to use some good old acid paper like the mint once used for proof coins. Thirty or forty years should do the trick.

 

Should work well I remember when I was like 16 bought a cleaned red 1828 au half cent was in a cardboard 2x2 basically forgot about it for 20 years when I looked at it about 2 years ago was nearly brown with a few red hilites in the middle. Decided then it was a good time to get rid of it as I had far better

 

That is some group of large cents. Just stunning. I don't think I have ever seen a group of large cents ever displayed together, regardless of whether they were in slabs or not.

I own just two slabbed coins, both proof-like 1994D commemoratives. Never understood the whole certification and slabbing process, anyway since it started in 1986. And, the evolved term of 'slab' is unappealing, as well. Don't you wind up 'on a slab' in the coroner's office? So, please, crack the poor things out!

 

Just for you @onecenter, this group puts mine and every other large cent collection to shame. It was part of the famed Ted Naftzger collection which is far and away the greatest large cent collection ever formed.

 

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Oh my! That is some collection! Amazing that they have some lustre after 221 years!

I only own one large cent, an 1842, raw, of course, one of a handful of old coins my grandmother gave me at gift when graduating from junior college in 1980.

 

no, it was PCGS. got it from a friend for two 1963D franklins + a coke

 

At some point, all of our coins will be sold. It may be us or it may be family. When that day comes, raw is no longer cool. Not a big deal with lower value coins but even those will bring less if removed from top tpg plastic. Albums and different types of display holders are a great deal of fun but they come with a cost. I went with that direction many years ago. Now I'm paying for it. It's not all that easy to sell raw coins.

 

Why on earth would crack beautiful coins out of nice protective slabs that are also professionally appraised and highly liquid? Why would you then proceed to place them in Air-Tites - which, despite the name, are definitely not airtight, and definitely not appraised, and definitely not liquid? I am all for "buy the coin, not the holder," (I chant that mantra constantly) but if you've already bought the holder, why would you destroy that investment? When it comes time to sell, I think you will find that you have lost a lot of money (or, will need to resubmit, which again costs a lot of money). Like it or not, either you or your heirs will need to sell at some point.

I could even (sort of, but not really), understand if you were putting them in a really nice album or Capitol plastics display - but you aren't. They are just sitting in unattractive Airtites.

To the posters cracking out moderns: that is even worse. Absolutely the entire premium for a modern graded coin lies in the plastic. That seems like a particularly foolhardy waste of money.

I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes or offend anyone, I just truly think that cracking out coins like this is (almost always) a mistake.

 

My family has been collecting coins since the 1870s and the vast majority of the collection is uncertified because it was either pulled out of circulation or purchased from the mint when the coins were just modern coins. Since I have no plans of sending in the entire collection to get graded, I crack out the ones that are going into what I consider a permanent collection and put them into an album. Air-tites are not really air tight, but neither is TPG plastic.

 

I prefer graded coins. You know it is real, the condition, and roughly the value. You crack it out, and good luck selling it for what it is worth. ALL coins will be resold eventually, whether by you or your next of kin. Also, I find it so much easier to look at and enjoy my coins when they are safe and secure in holders. I do have raw coins, but mainly ones that I am buying to resell, not buying to collect/keep for awhile.