Is this a newly discovered PCI Sample Slab

For those that collect sample or promotional slabs, have any of you seen this one before?

What is the correct classification, promotional holder?
Is it in the sample book yet? @Davidschwager @Burton Strauss III

Here is some info from @Conder101

"About a year before PCI went under, in order to try and improve their reputation in the market, PCI hired J T Stanton as their new President. one of the programs that he instituted was a return of the Signature Series slabs. The idea was to have a stable of experts in many different series (J T did Cherry Picker varieties). Coins submitted for the Signature Series would be sent to the expert for their opinion and any die variety attribution. They would then sign the slab label and return the coin and label for encapsulation. (This was in contrast to their original Signature Series slabs where PCI had the labels pre-signed. They would just send the coin, get it back, combine it with a pre-signed label and slab it. They got in trouble back then when they decided to speed up the process and not bother to send the coins out but just do the work in house and use the already signed labels. Stupid move because when the experts found out what they were doing the took out large ads in the coin magazines announcing that they n longer had any connection with PCI.)

This time it seemed to be working better, but with the death of the owner, the eventual firing of J T Stanton as President, and the financial problems that PCI was having they stopped paying their experts for their services. A few months later PCI folded.

This second series of Signature Series slabs comes in three different varieties with yellow, blue, and brown labels. I determined what order they were issued in but I don't have that data in front of me."

 

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I also find it interesting that the coin in the holder does not seem to be any sort of variety (at least not marked). One would think a promotional holder with JT Stanton would feature a coin with some variety.

 

Your own post described why

 

I'm not sure what you mean?
There were definitely some varieties attributed with his name on the slab before the owner passed away.

See this example:

 

The part where they just did it. I could have my slab generations messed up but wasn't the first post a last type of generation?

 

I've seen a few of these before....and you are correct about them some not having a variety coin in them. Cool find as these aren't to common.

 

Do you mean that this was potentially done after JT Stanton was gone but just before the owner passed away/this version of PCI folded?

 

Aren't the red labels the end of it?

 

No. PCI has kept going. There were at least several more owners after this version.

 

The signatures, I believe, only had two versions. One in the 90s (Tomaska era) and a 2006-2007 era with Stanton and Charles Daughtrey

 

I don't think JT actually looked at all the coins that had his sig on the label.

 

Since one of the biggie coin shows is in Dalton Ga, im guessing that this is a promotional slab of sorts.

 

ddddd, posted: Do you mean that this was potentially done after JT Stanton was gone but just before the owner passed away/this version of PCI folded?"

and..."This time it seemed to be working better, but with the death of the owner, the eventual firing of J T Stanton as President, and the financial problems that PCI was having they stopped paying their experts for their services. A few months later PCI folded."

I'm not an expert on all the things that happened at PCI but AFAIK (I know two of the graders who worked in TN) there is some misinformation posted in your comments as far as the timeline. After 1998 or 1999 I paid little attention to the goings on at PCI. There is a thread on Collector's Universe on these slabs and I am modifying my original post to reflect what was written there.

1. The owner who died was Brian Berdsley (sp?) Apparently, JT tried to salvage the PCI brand and revive the "Signature Series." This occurred long after the first "Signature" coins.

2. It appears that after about 1994 -97 PCI was playing games with the original "signature" coins. Before then, it was on the level.

3. PCI was under the ownership of the Revels family when the idea of a signature label first came up. Later, Larry Briggs tried to purchase the company but that sale fell through and later Briggs started SEGS taking a PCI manager with him.

4. It sounds like J.T. was involved with the company again when Brian owned it. This I never knew. So now I shall call my old friends and find out all the gossip! Thanks!

 

Thanks for the timeline @Insider
Be sure to share that gossip. Don't worry, none of us will tell

 

At the last show in April a dealer friend had a gold PCI slab with a 22 Peace in it. It was also marked with the hoard it came from. I can't recall the name of the hoard,and the coin toned but far from any eye appeal at all.
He had it priced to sell so I doubt if it's still available . But I must admit never have I seen a PCI slab before with a hoard documentation on the slab.

 

It definitely meets the definition of "promotional".

@Davidschwager did not include it in the 2nd edition, in fact there are no PCI 5c slabs in the book.

The other style, from @ddddd is in the book, two forms, both labeled as samples. PCI-001-9-1 and PCI-001-9-2.


Some additional history from @Conder101: http://goccf.com/t/65529#517614

Certainly when Brian Beardsley died, there were serious problems at PCI, leading up to the auction.

http://www.coinlink.com/News/coin-grading-authentication/pci-to-be-sold-at-auction-january-16th/

DGS: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.dominiongrading.com/index.cfm
PCI/Sunset: https://web.archive.org/web/20101101000000*/http://www.sunsetcoins.com/

Subsequently, PCI 'revived' the green label in 2010/2011 (you can tell because the micro-printed green box is blobs instead of PCI PCI PCI). That was purely fraud - http://www.coinweek.com/coin-clubs/...ly-2-million-under-federal-racketeering-laws/

And they are still in business (not sure who bought them or when), with what I call the bullet train logo labels (I've been casually tracking the high serial # just to see how active they are), e.g.: http://www.ebay.com/itm/182505701919 (so between 2012 and 2016, 10K coins)

 

@Conder101 says it all. The only thing I'll add is this:

The green "banknote" labels were used from the beginning. Sometime after 1990 or 1991, graders approached Revels with the idea to start slabbing problem coins using a red label. At that time all the TPGS's were body-bagging coins with serious problems and PCI thought all collectors who paid for a service should get a slab with a grade! Unfortunately, many PCI problem coins were cracked out and straight graded by the other TPGS with looser grading standards regarding scratches, cleaning, corrosion, and rim problems. Soon after the red labels proved to be popular PCI added blue borders to the foreign coin labels.

 

PCI had great timing with the red label holders. A lot of folks wanted problem coins in a decent holder so they could be stored along with other slabs. I made many mistakes at a young age and the red label was great with me. I'm thinking I was paying about $8 to send coins to PCI. I still own them all. Several would straight grade today but I'll keep them the way they are. Below is a good example.

 

I see why many "Red" labels were cracked out. Mark, PCI's chief grader during the years in TN told me several times that dealers would call him at work to brag about how many PCI problem coins they got straight graded at NGC or PCGS! PCI red labels were priced below market but you can see why astute dealers jumped to get them. I heard they were very strict for a few years. Then it all went to hell with the gold label group.

BTW, I suspect if you tipped the coin at an angle in the light it probably has continuous parallel hairlines from improper cleaning.