At the Lakeland show I bought a Sweden 1935-G 5 Kr with a Gold Shield "Genuine" Scratch-Unc Detail label. The holder was never sealed. Accidents happen. The label looked "funny" but the coin is as described and genuine: #579451.95/34926841. We think everything is genuine. On the bottom edge of the slab are the letters "HSMMJBH" etched in dots. This may be a personalized addition by the previous owner.
Most PCGS slabs have a dot-matrix code on the edge. Put there by PCGS. I'm guessing it's an internal control code that allows PCGS to trace day of slabbing, machine used and machine operator ... maybe other things as well. Cal
Thanks! I just looked at a bunch of PCGS slabs sent for crossover (not gold shield) and they have letters at the base punched into the plastic. Who knew?
Is this a recent development ? I'll check my PCGS slabs....maybe someone can post a close-up of these engraved codes. They are there for security ?
Ever since they went to the slightly thicker slab, they had these codes on the bottom. I assume it's a lot code of some sort for the shells. PCGS is unlikely to say what they're actually for if they carry some other meaning, like a one-way checksum involving the cert number, submission number, and submitter customer number, but that seems unlikely. It would just end up being one more potential mechanical error to make on something that nobody has yet to use for anything.
This thread has some close-up images. It dates back to at least 2018 (when that thread was started). https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1009420/interesting-alpha-code-on-slab-edge
I posted a pic on cointalk earlier this year. See https://www.cointalk.com/threads/purpose-of-lettering-on-edge-of-pcgs-slabs.355977/#post-4198890 Cal