First let me say that I now officially REALLY dislike the new NGC holders. After doing a circular crop on a coin in one of the new NGC slabs you are left with the plastic "fingers". They make the images ugly. So why do I use NGC? As an ANA member I don't have to pay to join NGC to get my coins graded. But I will have to rethink this and maybe join PCGS in order to get away from the NGC holders. Anyway, I did two crossovers to NGC. One was an 1834 "3 over inverted 3" (LM-1) half dime in an ICG EF-45 holder. No problems. See here: The other was an 1872 2-cent in an ANACS AU-50 holder. Dropped a whole grade to XF-40. See here: Actually to be fair to NGC I don't know how ANACS ever graded this coin AU-50. The reverse in particular has quite a few dings. They are not obvious in my image because of the way I illuminate the coin. But look at the upper loop of the "2" and you can get a hint of what I'm saying. XF-40 is probably a realistic grade for this coin. It's just that I hate losing $400 in book value because of the downgrade.
Nice dime --- especially nice to have it cross from ICG to NGC with the same grade. When you crossed these did you send them in the old slabs or bust them out... Thanks..
Sent them in the old slabs. And you specify a minimum grade. NGC won't crack them out unless they will grade at least up to your minimum. In the case of the half dime my minimum was XF-40, but I got XF-45. In the case of the 2-cent my minimum was XF-40, and I got XF-40 in spite of AU-50 on the ANACS holder. How did I determine my minimums? I showed the coins to MFD and used what he suggested.
Question for you kanga - you don't like the edge view holders. More than a few others have expressed the same notion. And I can understand your point. But don't you like the ability to see the edge of the coin ? I would see that as a plus that outweighs the negative aspect of the fingers showing. I just find it odd that others do not. Thoughts ?
I'm going to "trust" the TPGs to take into account any "third side" problems when grading. And many edge problems also show up as rim problems. Therefore I don't feel I need "edge view" holders for reeded and plain edge coins. And "edge view" holders won't help in ID'ing or confirming reeding-count varieties. "Lettered edge" coins are a different story. Since that's an integral part of the coin's design, I would like to be able to see it. For instance, those who collect the Presidential dollars and want both the "letters up" and "letters down" varieties, seeing the edge is mandatory. I don't, so I have very few "lettered edge" coins, and they are all in my type set. I may have only one. Don't know. It would be nice, but not essential, to see the lettering. I think, at least among the few I have, that the coins can be ID'ed without having to see the edge.
Many of the Bust half dollars and some of the gold coins cannot be attributed without seeing the edge also. They came up with this slab design because a lot of customers asked for it. But you answered my question.
I really like being able to see the side of the coin but hate the "fingers" as well. You think they could design a slab insert that just has fingers that do to the edge of the coin rather than onto the obverse and reverse. The coin is in a slab and won't go anywhere...it seems that such a design would be the best of both worlds. But, I imagine that's harder to do than it seems.
A quick check seems to show that I only have one lettered edge coin. It's an 1807 Capped Bust Half Dollar, Large Stars, 50/20. Based on what I see in the Red Book that coin won't be a problem ID'ing without seeing the edge, unless there are lesser varieties that are beyond the Red Book that require viewing the edge. I didn't notice what gold coins have letter edges or edge varieties, but I strongly suspect I don't have any. I don't advocate that NGC step back to the older holder design. I'm not even going to ask that they give us a choice. I just find the "fingers" ugly when I circular crop my images. But I'll live with it for now.
That's exactly how I feel. The fingers are a negative for photography, but the total slab is a huge plus. It's not just better for seeing the edge, though I think that's great. I've always felt NGC slabs "swallowed up" small coins (3cS, h10c, G$1, even $2.5); they just sink down into that thick inner layer. The new slabs allow me to appreciate all coins better, especially small ones.
I basically like the new NGC holder. However, the new holders result in distracting photographs and it will be interesting to see how some odd-shaped coins will fit in them. I personally enjoy the (1) original ANACS small white holders (2) PCGS with blue label, and (3) the previous NGC without the four fingers.
That's a shame. One ought to be able to retain the CAC "Green Beam" on the new NGC holder. I'll try contacting CAC to see if there is a remedy to losing the decal.
