I don’t collect slabs and never have. But for those who do, there is a batch of Morgans up for auction that are in slabs by uncommon TPGs like Numistrust, NGS, GES, HCGS and others. I’ve never heard of these TPGs. Anyone have info on them? Strangely, they are being offered by a French company, CGB. They can be seen at cgbfr.com or biddr.com. I collect certain types of French coins which is how I stumbled on these coins. I have no financial connection with CGB except as an occasional customer. Thought the slabs might be of interest to some members. Mike Edit: Here are a couple of pics of these weird slabs.
Likely either TPGs that tried, and failed, to establish a reputation for accuracy and legitimacy, or... and there's dozens if not hundreds of these... self-slabbers pretending to be "third party" graders. I've not heard of any of those ones specifically but there are several defunct grading companies that few likely have. A lot of them barely qualify as "companies" because they were just one person, or a few people, sticking coins in plastic in a basement somewhere. I'm no grading expert but even I can tell that top one is nowhere near an MS-67. Spend your money how you want of course, but my advice is to treat any such coins as raw coins, and pay accordingly. Don't pay according to the grade on the plastic.
Both coins are over graded in my opinion. There were a number of companies that came and went fast due to over-grading. Some of them were basement graders. While I do have a number of different slabs I don’t collect the slab, I collect the coin.
I have an 1886P Morgan that NTC graded 67. I got it fairly cheap. I sent it off to PCGS to be regraded. It came back MS66. I was pleased.
I seem to remember reading that some of these bottom-tier slabbers would encapsulate coins with any grade you specified. I absolutely love the thought that someone might have unwittingly sent a true gem coin to one of these places, and accidentally ordered it overgraded by only one point.
I just purchased an 1885O Morgan yesterday off the fleaBay. It's graded MS65 by ANACS in their current gold colored slab. I swear from the photos, it looks undergraded. It's a common coin but conditional rarity matters A LOT. At some point I'll send to PCGS to cross over. I've said numerous times that ANACS is a really picky grader, and that there's a reason you never see their slabs in anything graded higher than 65, they all get sent elsewhere to get crossed over.
I know a bit of the inside scoop on these. Not sure I should share publicly, though. it is also a LOT to type.
I cracked a few of the NTC and sent the coins to PCGS. They all came back a point lower but I did well based on what I gave for the coins.
Shady 'people' including mortgage fraud felons sell their own coins in these holders at 'auctions' with high estimates, up to hundreds/thousands of time over the real value of the coin. They prey on people who have no clue what they are doing. In July, I was at a show when a woman came to me with a list of coins in these exact holders, plus SEGS (owned by the mortgage fraud felons who are married). She paid approximately $20,000 for the batch of coins. After evaluating the coins, I was only able to offer her $1,500 or so. Avoid Key Date Auctions, Great Southern Coins, Gold Standard Auctions, and others. They are on the general small auction house platforms like LiveAuctioneers, etc. Some of the auction houses on these sites are just people who do estates, etc that know nothing of coins and are doing their best. The 'auction houses' above KNOW and CON / deceive through basement-slabbing their own coins.
I mean, I would also trust NGC, ANACS, CACGS, um... maybe ICG on a good day. Just stick with a "buy the coin, not the holder" attitude and you're fine.
GEC, which I call 'the finny slab' was used by a bunch of 3rd-tier self-slabbers. They are not sealed; it's a wraparound seal. I actually saw a dealer with enough patience to open them by tapping. I use the pinhole. NTC was a legit company; they just never gained enough traction. They (may) still be in business as "the New NTC". They have a certificate verification tool, but it doesn't have the older companies' coin. And the site hasn't been updated (much) since 2016. https://www.ntccoin.com/
