I keep my coins in coin albums, so when I buy a slabbed coin, I like to break it out of the slab. That isn’t easy to do. The fellow at the coin shop yesterday said the pressure points (of the silver dollar I had purchased) are just above the coin, on each side of the slab, and at the bottom-center of the slab. All I can think of using is a pair of pliers. Do any of you have any suggestions?
If you don't have a band saw, you might want to try a hacksaw, mounting the slab in a vise. If you don't have a hacksaw and vise, you can trying wrapping the slab in a towel, hold it on its side on a hard surface and give it a good whack with a hammer. If you don't have a hammer, use C4. Chris
My method of breaking coins out of slabs is not much better. I use a pliers and a screw driver. It sends shards of plastic flying across the room, but I get the coin unharmed that way. Ha, ha!
I just put them in a vice with the edges of the slab touching the jaws and squeeze away. They pop apart no problem. It makes me smile to crack coins out of slabs.
I wrap the slab in a rag, place it between the jaws of a vise, and crank on it until it splits. Why the rag? It will contain any shards that could injure someone's eyes, or cause splinters.
So you take a "Detail" coin in a slab break it out and sell it to some unsuspecting new collector as GEM Unc. Wow
I remember someone who used this method, and the coin ended up falling to the floor a few feet below. Yes, they had the slab wrapped in a towel, but that didn't help prevent the accident. Chris