The cheapest and safest holder for long-term storage.

Drumroll please.....

The slab.

You're going to think I'm crazy, but read this...

Okay, right now it costs $20-$25 to send in a non-modern, not gold coin into PCGS. $25 is secure holder, $20 is standard.

Now if you wanted to, you could just stick that 1892-CC BU silver dollar in a paper flip. Which of course, the little paper specks could cause toning. The mylar window is thin, and offers no protection from the coin getting hit by another coin. Paper flips often yellow in 10+ years depending on how they are stored, get dirty, wrinkled, etc.

Then, you could also use an air-tite, but if you drop the coin in an air-tite, as heavy as a silver dollar is, it's most likely going to crack like an egg when it hits that cold concrete, sending your precious coin scooting under the dusty floor of your fridge.

While both of the above methods are cheap, they offer little protection.

So now we have the slab.

$25 DOES sound expensive, but think about it. That $500 coin could be worth scrap if it were to fall out of an air-tite, or get dinged through the mylar window of a cardboard flip. The slab is sonically welded on all sides, preventing it from opening it if fell.

Of course, you're not spending $25 just to get it put in a fancy holder, you're getting it graded as well. While the coin might be worth $300 as is, it could be worth a bunch more if the TPG slabs it as MS65, instead of MS64. While grading IS subjective, people usually pay the grade on the slab.

So if you have a coin worth at least $200, and plan on keeping it for over 20 years, the slab is cheap.

If you keep the slab 20 years, and spend $25 to get it graded, you're not even spending $2.00 a YEAR to have it in a holder that will keep it from harm.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

$25 will get you about 30 of these:



And there is no need to send your coins anywhere.

 

You forgot the $28 return shipping and insurance in your calculations. Oh, and the $200 membership fee (since I can't see anyone opting for lower than "gold" membership, with the included eight $3000 max value gradings). Can't forget that!

Beyond that, PCGS holders are neither the cheapest nor safest method for storing coins. Intercept makes 2x2 holders for a buck and change. Yes, you could just use a Zincoln penny, but we're talking about single items, not storage systems.

Or, you could always go the route used by the Smithsonian and purchase Kointains (25- to 40-cents per).

 

$200 membership fee? It's $50 a year.

 

They have different plans. Some come with free certs.

 

To quote Tom Lehrer, "But if the bomb that drops on you, Gets your friends and neighbors too, There'll be nobody left behind to grieve."

 

I've been getting a lot of my collection slabbed this year. But some of the less valuable and non-gradeable stuff I've been preparing to store in AirTites that are then stored in the AirTite tubes and boxes. I may spend $50 in supplies, but that's two slabs at PCGS...

 

Read very s l o w l y...

Timmy loves slabs, Timmy loves slabs not. Timmy loves slabs, Timmy loves slabs not. Timmy loves slabs, Timmy loves slabs not. Timmy loves slabs..... again.

 

What if a solar flare hits and melts
the seam that seals the slab and metal
eating zombie bacteria, hitch hiking on
the solar flare, get in there and consume your
Morgan?

 

Then I think you have a little more to worry about than your coins...

 

I was rationalizing just as Detecto was with
the Morgan and the Air Tite. The general
idea is not to drop $500 coins.

 

Shoot.......flesh eating bacteria. Bacteria eating coins.

Woe is me..........

 

Hey Green good to see you again.

 

Interesting concept. Ignoring the word "Zombie", your gold, silver, copper coins would be unaffected unless all of the oxygen on the earth vanished ( in which case, you shouldn't care about your coins anyway), So assuming oxygen is gone, metal metabolizing microorganisms would use iron, nitrogen, and perhaps manganese, with decaying humans and other animals providing a lot of organic iron from their blood. Gold , silver, copper, nickel, etc would tend to poison them None of these bacteria have the endospore structure to survive space or solar flares, so you can eliminate all worry.

 

I didn't think the I would read the word "endospore" today

 

This is quite an assumption and in my experience untrue. I even dropped a challenge coin (heavier then a silver dollar) in an Air Tite and nothing happened.

 

Hearsay! You know Tim can't allow facts to interfere with a good story!

 

Tim if you're worried about dropping your coins and wrecking them , Capital makes holders with plastic screws to hold them together . But like others said Airtites or IS holders in a proper box and proper handling should be enough . Plus I keep some coins in Kointains and flips .

 

Your biggest concern should be the moisture content of the air your coins are stored in... It does not matter what holder or slab in which your coin resides - high humidity will eventually affect them all...

 

Note to self: Put carpet in the kitchen, seal the bottom of the refrigerator with duct tape, and don't butter my toast while I'm putting coins in AirTites at the kitchen table.

Chris