Can someone tell me what a "Compugrade" slab is and why they're worth so much more than the coin?

All grading is subjective and a matter of opinion, so what is "correct"? And if what you mean is "how does it compare to what PCGS would call it?" Compared to what PCGS would have called it in 1991, or 2019?

Compugrade and PCGS's Expert system both debuted at the ANA convention in August 1991. Neither lasted til the end of the year. Something to note, both involved as their first step scanning of the coin, mapping marks and defects , and creating a "digital fingerprint" of the coin that would allow it to be recognized if it was ever resubmitted. (Something that would come in handy for identifying stolled coins that have been cracked out of their holders.) When PCGS introduced their Secure Shield tier, part of that was once again scanning and creating a digital fingerprint of the coin that would allow it to be recognized if it was ever resubmitted under the Secure Shield tier.

ANACS and Amos Press were also working on computer grading at the time (1990). (I don't know if NGC was but it wouldn't surprise me.) That was one of the reasons Amos Press bought ANACS, to get their computer grading research.

 

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I was asking for a comparison to ddddd's opinion of the grade.
That is really what matters.

 

Buy the holder and not the coin!

Minor VAMs aren’t anything special, but people hype them up (Top 100, Hot 50, etc.) call them scarce, and slap premiums on them.

 

It sold in the $170s... I didn't chase it as it is substantially identical to several I already own.

Searching at the NNP finds abstracts (the full text is not available) (but see the note below) - lightly edited to correct obvious OCR issues that paint a history of CompuGrade:

One of the rumors around CompuGrade is that the coins that were slabbed were hand-graded as the computing system wasn't ready at launch or didn't work.

Coin World [05/25/1992] (pg. 25)
The inventor of computer coin grading seems to have sold or turned his idea over to CompuGrade a company that started out grading only Morgans and have now announced that they re calling it quits Coin World Page 30 May 4 The question of how CompuGrade was grading coins was somewhat muddled by the inventor s letter to the editor of Coin World on March 23 where he said that I've been told by the principal involved in developing the Merton Patent that they no longer grade...​

Time line:

Coin World [11/07/1990] (pg. 48)
CompuGrade to begin computer grading Dec 1
By Paul Gilkes COIN WORLD Staff Writer
CompuGrade a New Orleans based computer coin grading firm is aiming to accept coins for computer grading beginning Dec 1 according to CompuGrade s numismatic consultant Bob Estremera Dec 1 is a target date and the startup may actually be pushed back a month Estremera said CompuGrade is hoping to have at least ...

Coin World [10/04/2010] (pg. 123)
CompuGrade closes
CompuGrade shut down its computer grading operation on April 14 1992, 14 months after accepting its first coins for grading Bob Estremera at the time of the closing speaking on behalf of CompuGrade owner James Diefenthal stated Due to conditions n the rare coin market resulting in a lack of sufficient submissions CompuGrade is forced to cease activity until conditions...

Coin World [01/02/1991] (pg. 83)
The CompuGrade Era Is Here February 15 begins a new era in computerized coin grading the CompuGrade era The patented CompuGrade system has opened the door to more objective consistent repeatable grading CompuGrade offers Decimal Grading of greater precision for collectors and investors Based on the Mint State scale a grade such as MS65.5 pinpoints a coin as only CompuGrade can Eye Appeal is...


The Numismatist, February 1991:


I think this gives us a range from 1991-02-15 through 1992-04-14.


Initially only graded Morgan $:

Coin World [02/06/1991] (pg. 22)
CompuGrade the computerized coin grading service based in New Orleans will inaugurate its patented service Feb 15 by accepting submissions of Morgan dollars for grading according to CompuGrade numismatic consultant Bob Estremera CompuGrade will expand its decimalized grading i.e. Mint State 65.5 to other coin series as soon as the demand warrants Estremera said ...





NOTES: CoinWorld and NumismaticNews have been scanned by the NNP, however because they are still copyrighted, the full text is not available. ANS members can request copies from the ANS Library.

The Numismatist is also copyrighted and not available in full text at the NNP. ANA members have access through ExactEditions.