Buy the Coin & not the Slab

tashabay, love that blazing luster . Hey, what's a couple years between friends .

 

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Miss-post, but I will try and reserve this space - I have more to say. Missed the opportunity - please see further down,

 

hear! hear!

 

I think the key word in the above statement is "people."

While I believe it's an accurate observation, how many of these new people are collectors (either avid or casual) vs. investors and speculators?

While I'm not a collector of modern coins, I'm doubtful that most true modern-coin collectors think that slabbing has had a long-term positive, beneficial effect on a hobby that they enjoy. They may be grateful for the positive effect slabbing may have had on the value of their collection, but conversely, it's likely that they've also been priced out of collecting coins that, as genuine collectors, they'd like to add to their collections.

Any hobby is going to have its share of investors and speculators. Personally, I'd prefer that ancient coin collecting keep this latter class of individuals to a minimum, but unfortunately I see slabbing as increasing the number of investors and speculators.

 

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Not an ancient by a long shot, but here is an example of an obviously mislabeled slab. I’m guilty of having bought this online without taking a close look at the coin itself. Needless to say it’s on its way back to the seller.

 

Might it have an increased value because of the erroneous slab?

Regardless of the incorrect slab, the coin is the coin is the coin. That won't change with a correction to the slab, but I'm wondering that since there are people who collect slabs just for the slab, is there anyone who collects error slabs?

Does anyone know?

 

How I learned to stop worrying and love the things I collect.

I collect Roman Imperial coins (mostly those with Britannic Association), Japanese Samurai swords (Nihontô - mostly with Edo period mountings) and martial flintlock firearms (Napoleonic wars and the war of 1812). Now those are expensive artifacts for a person with modest means - like me! So my monetary resources are spread thin. Even if I wanted too, I simply cannot afford very high quality, aesthetically pleasing examples such as Julio-Claudian aurei, Old sword period famous maker Katanas or Durs Egg Officer model pistols. Japanese swords in particular can be exorbitantly expensive. These days I am more of a $100-$500 buyer with an infrequent $1000 splurge. But that is not a great burden for me for I derive a great deal of pleasure from simply researching and reading about the items I buy. Most of all, I can handle and admire them (carefully and with diligence) with my bare hands - without experiencing guilt or worry. I do take precautions though - dry hands, no breathing on shiny metal (especially Japanese sword blades), no vigorous rubbing (gentle fondling and caressing is OK) and careful handling at all times. Because the artifacts I purchase are not pristine, I accept imperfections such as a little enhancing (ahem, smoothing/tooling, etc.) especially for antique firearms - but I don’t do any myself - or attempt to correct any of the existing faults. I look at this way: all of the blemishes, dings, and missing pieces are part of their history. My motto is “do no (more) harm”. Now where does this bring me? Ah, I know - why I don’t like slabbing Ancient coins. They are out of reach for me in their plastic coffins. I suppose their wide-spread use is inevitable - but, like Doug Smith, I don’t think I will be around to see it happen.


BTW, if anyone is moved to visit my Nihontô Pages just click here please

 

I have seen coins offered at premiums due to mislabels. In this case the label coin is worth more than the actual encapsulated coin (and I already have the 1992 Olympic) so it wasn't worth to keep it. If the price difference wasn't significant I definitely would've kept it as a curiosity piece.

 

But …………… I do enjoy admiring those lucious coins of IOM, Ancient Joe and Panzerman - I am thankful they collect them and display them here - they are indeed a feast for the eyes.

 

I checked your link. Those are very cool. You have so much info there I can't take it all in immediately, though I did check out the first one with the wooden blade. It's a beautiful sword, if you use that word with swords. I especially like the little carved insect inserted between the wrappings on the handle.
Again, very nice.
I will probably never understand the language though I am learning the numbering system for reading coin dates and denominations. Surprisingly, it's the same (usually) for both Japanese and Chinese.

Hai

 

These lines are all in a database. For these Trajan tetradrachm there are maybe a dozen drop down lines with varying descriptions. Sometimes you think you are clicking on one and end up grabbing the one above or below by mistake. It happens occasionally. We catch most before they go out, but sometimes they get out despite our best intentions.

Send it back in and we can correct it at no charge.

I find these threads amusing. David and I graded and authenticated almost 44000 ancient coins last year. That’s more coins across our desk than any auction house with many more employees. For some reason though people take great pleasure in pointing out our mistakes, yet ignore all the typos, wrong attributions, forgeries etc. that show up in printed catalogs and esales.

We do what we can to minimize the errors, but I can guarantee we won’t catch them all. If 50 coins a year get out by mistake with typos on the labels and 43950 go out perfectly, oh well. I can live with those odds.

Barry Murphy.