Has anybody here ever been working on an album and decided to buy some slabbed coins for the album, and cracked them out to put them in? I've said in the past I'd never do this but in some instances, with quite large mintages, I don't really see what it matters. I know people will say it won't be worth more than it was in the slab but I don't care. First of all, I'd like to take a slab apart and then also, study the coin in hand, knowing that PCGS or NGC has graded it "x". I recently bought a couple nice BU Franklin halves. A MS-63 FBL in an NGC holder and a MS-63 FBL in a PCGS holder. They're not high dollar coins. But they do look really nice and I want to look at these and see what both of these companies classifies as FBL's in order to help me judge for myself on ungraded ones, what's actually a FBL coin. Then, put them in my Intercept Shield album and save the holders. I really don't see the harm in it. My other question is.... Do you guys ever purchase a certain type of coin, maybe a cheaper version, that you leave out to look at, hold in hand, without fear of damage? It seems like whenever I get something, I'm only concerned with not touching it, holdering it asap, and storing it before any damage is done. Sometimes I've considered buying some just to have, leave out and not worry about.
I have never done it myself but I know people who have. Instead of keeping the slab they just remove the paper tag and tape it to the inside of the cover of the album Richard
Vess1, Most of my good franklins and peace dollars are cracked out of slabs. I have no fear of doing this, considering I cracked out a pcgs ms63 34-s peace dollar for my one of my peace dollar sets (intercept shield). Nothing like looking at a nice set in an album. take care Tallpaul000
Just remember, once you crack it out everyone gets a chance to grade it, even if you kept the label. The slabbed MS-63 you bought could very well look like MS-62 to the dealer you are trying to sell it too. I empathize with your desire to get "closer" to your coins. I also have cracked out any number of coins. Later when I had a change of heart I got several rude surprises. And a couple pleasant ones too. Such things as the cracked out AU or MS coin that came back body bagged. Had several of those. Some came back a grade lower; and some came back higher (but not as many.) One of the interesting ones was an IHC that was originally MS-65RD. It came back MS-66RB. I guess that was a push. Nowadays if I buy a slabbed coin, it stays that way. That leaves holes in my albums, but I know I have those coins. If I'm doing a show-and-tell it's not important that there's an album hole where a 1914-D should be. For most people seeing one wheat-back Lincoln is enough. The rest look the same. That's why I do a type set.
