I've been considering sending in some scuffed up NGC slabs for reholdering, but reholders come with the scratch resistant holders (SRH) and I haven't had a chance to see one in person. I've heard mixed reviews on them; that the SRH has better clarity, that it is near impossible to buff if it does get scratched, and that it typically has bubbling on the sides of the slab from the scratch resistant coating. So what do you all who have one think about the SRH? Is it worth the $5 for the extra clarity, or maybe only for star coins? Also, does anyone have a picture of what the bubbling on the slab looks like?
The scratch resistant holders are hard to polish if they get scratched, but then all NGC holders are hard to get looking nice if they get scuffy. They do look quite nice, but if these are coins that are just staying in your collection and not getting thrown around the bourse floor, I'd recommend getting a pack of clear sleeves made for protecting the slabs. I paid less than a dollar for 100 from Wizard at a coin show. These also make it possible for you to pack slabs more tightly in double-row boxes for storage without having the slabs scuff each other.
Here's some info and a video of a holder - and by bubbling do you mean the 3 tabs on the side? http://www.ngccoin.com/coin-grading/holders/scratch-resistant.aspx
I've read some reviews where people have said the scratch resistant coating leaves visible air bubbles on the sides of the slab, but I haven't seen it first hand.
I just checked some of my NGC MS66 Wheat Cent SRH's and I see nothing. Maybe the bubbling was from the new process then corrected or maybe a machine malfunction for a certain batch of holders??
That may very well be the case as they were older reviews. I hadn't seen any follow ups mentioning the presence of bubbles on newer SRHs, but also nothing stating they were absent until now. Thank you. Would you say the clarity of an unblemished SRH is better than the clarity of an unblemished normal edge view holder?
I reholdered a single coin in the scratch-resistant holder. I liked it fine, but I didn't really test out how scratch resistant they are. They DO feel different than normal holders, but look essentially identical. The feel almost "slippery". I am planning on re-holdering some coins at some point, and I will be paying for the nicer ones. But, just so you know, technically any reholder gets the fancier holder by default. In theory, for $10 per slab you get:
I would say the optical clarity is better but minute. The 4 "fingers" holding the coin does expose the side view of the rim but that's more for "SHOW than GO" ! If I have an UNC coin in MS then the outside rim should be just as nice as the coins surfaces.
