Is this a fake PCGS slab?

Came across this PCGS slab below. It looks similar to a PCGS Gen 4.0 slab, but some of the details are off. Is this a fake slab?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Checks out good at the PCGS website

 

I should think anyone who is going to go through the effort to fake a slab would take the time to fake one with a legit serial number.

 

What would be the reason for someone to fake this coin in particular?

The hologram sticker looks good also.

 

If I were to get into the 'fake' business I would want to do so in a way that flies under the radar. We know this happens on common, low grade coins per NGC:

https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/3082/Counterfeit/

You can also buy an entire set of fake Peace Dollars on Amazon for $99.00.
I cannot find the listing right now - I'll post it later if I can find it again.

Again, I'm not an expert and I certainly don't have the expertise to determine the legitimacy of a coin or holder. The point is that it isn't only the high end stuff that is turning up faked anymore.

 

It is rather sad that the increasing prevalence of counterfeiting actually threatens to take away some of the (previously) unfettered joy of coin collecting; what a shame.

 

I am fairly certain that it is real. The PCGS holder history skips some transitional types. Conder lists more on here, but unfortunately the pictures are gone.

@Conder101 does this match your PCGS 6.0?

https://forums.collectors.com/discu...s-with-pictures-very-long-updated-10-27-06/p1

PCGS 6 In Nov of 98 PCGS dropped the green label in favor of the current light blue. This first light blue variety usually stikes people as being odd but they have problems putting their finger on exactly why. On this variety the date is found in the upper left hand corner and the denomination/type is in the upper right corner. In the center of the second line is PCGS and the grade. The serial number is at the center of the bottom label, and the barcode has been banished to the back label. The PCGS coin and seris numbers do not appear on this variety!! This variety was only used for circulation type coins (including proofs). For Bullion coins, and Commemoratives see PCGS 7. This variety was only used in Nov and Dec of 1998.

 

Curious - what is it that troubled you about it? I mean other than it wasn't PCGS' best era in terms of attractiveness.

 

Looks ok to me

 

That description seems to match.

I questioned it because it's a slab design I'm not familiar with. Based on the above information that it was only used for two months at the end of 1998, I imagine there are lots of collectors who are not familiar with this design.

Thanks for all the responses!

 

All of the Gen 4. series have a barcode on the front, except the 4.0.

 

I think there are/were some slab types that were only used for "bulk" submissions, or am I misremembering that?

 

https://www.pcgs.com/holders/Gen4.0

 

It looked off to me at first but with fish's link I noticed why. I must only have those blue label slabs with the barcode on the front, yours is the generation with it on the back and that subtle difference makes it look odd if you haven't seen it before.

 

There have been some label differences before and I'm pretty sure for a bit with the newest slab the bulk submissions still got the older version for a while. Now they both get the newest shell

 

Those numbers get killed when it's found out they're being used for fakes. Plus the coins inside are usually fake or insanely over graded

 

Could be considered a 6 or an 8, more likely an 8 due to the longer period of time that one was used. The difference between the 6 and 8 for US coins was the 6 did not have the coin and series numbers and the 8 did have them. But PCGS did not have coin and series numbers for world coins. So a world coin slab issued during the period when those two slab types were in use would look the same. (PCGS was not doing very much at all with world coins during this period.) The PCGS 8 type slab ended over 15 years ago so you don't see them much anymore and they look "odd" to people today.

 

The more I examine this slab, the more I question it...look at the tops of the "5"s on the cert number...also, I cannot find that bulls eye the coin is encased in.

 

The bulls eye has been used before and is there in the picture, you can see the faint line the bigger coin and the picture kind of washes out

 

Do you have a pic of the 8 slab? I don't see it.