Is anyone else turned off by putting coins into those plastic "slabs?" I know people do it as a protection or for investment purposes, but it seems like the coin ceases to be what it is and becomes just another commodity. Thoughts?
The original idea behind slabbing/certifying coins was not to protect them but to give them some liquidity. If I have a PCGS MS66 Morgan dollar, I can talk to a dealer in another state (or another country) and he can make an intelligent offer on the coin without ever seeing it, because if it's a PCGS coin he knows what to expect if he's familiar with their grading standards. Many large groups of generic coins change hands every day sight unseen among dealers. There's even a service called Certified Coin Exchange that allows dealers to place bids/asks for certified coins and many transactions take place there every day on coins or groups of coins that the buyer purchases without seeing them beforehand. I should also mention that many coins are PQ for the grade and these usually sell for a premium over CCE bids, which are strictly for sight unseen coins. PQ coins are usually reserved for sale in person at shows etc Nick
I love slabs...most of my key date coins are in slabs...some of my sets (Proof Franklins) are in slabs...they are nice for a lot of reason...I'll name 2 right now...you can show them to friends with out worring about fingerprints and such...if you ever have them stolen you have some # numbers to look for..... Speedy
Protection (all things being equal), authentication, presentation, storage are just some of the reasons I own and buy slabbed coins. I know what I am buying if I am making a sight unseen purchase. Also, as stated, it is like having liquid cash if you have to sell. A buyer doesn't have to take my word on a coin that I may state as a "MS64", it is the opinion of the third party grading service. Now with that said, I will only buy "sight, unseen" from services like PCGS, NGC, ANACS and ICG (circulated grades). That is just me. For companies like PCI or SEGS, I mentally deduct 2 to 4 MS points and 5 to 20 circulated grade points IF I can't see the coin. That's just my experience. Always buy the coin, not the slab if you have a chance the see the coin. But since a lot of buying and selling is done without actually seeing the coin close up under a loop, slabs hold their place in the marketplace and provide a service. Are they perfect? No they are not...but ask yourself, would you buy a 1916-D Merc dime or a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent from a seller you really did not know UNLESS the coin was authenticated? Last but not least, there is no law you have to keep your coins in slabs. A pair of strong pliers and strong forearms will do the trick. BUT (there is always a but), if you ever had to sell the coin you just broke out, you will net less for it because again, it is now your opinion of the grade being presented against the buyer's opinion of the grade. You think it is a MS65 and the buyer thinks it is a MS64. I go back and buy that same coin and think it is a MS64 and the seller now tells me it is a MS65.
I'm not sure that there is much downside to buying slabs other than they tend to cost a bit more. The positives greatly outweigh the negatives in my opinion. As soon as I buy a coin I look around for something to put it in to label and protect it anyway.
I am agnostic on slabs... I like them, i buy them, i send my coins to be put in them... and i have no problem with buying raw ( just need to do a lot more research ) I for one would be EXTREMLY wary of purchasing a key date that was not authenticated ( raw ) and would only buy it with a promise that it was authentic ( and would send it in to be authenticated )
Out of curiosity, how much does it cost you to get it graded? Is it cheaper to but raw coins and then send it to be graded than buying graded coins?
Sometimes it is...sometimes its not.... The price will vary from place to place...some dealer will charge you to send them in...and the price will also vary with how fast of service you pick... When I send coins to ANACS I send them on the 5 day and I send 5+ coins...that makes it about $15.00 each coin + S&H. To PCGS the slow service (about a month...ANACS slow service takes about 3 months) will cost you about $25.00 Speedy
When I was young, we didn't have tek-nol-oh-gee... 1. Commoditization of coins is one of the goals of slabbing. That has been acknowledged here and it seems broadly true. Commoditization is not to the point where they are universally recognized, as for instance, coffee or soybeans, which are truly commodities. 2. Many alternative holders for coins allow you to show them -- and remove them, and put them back. 3. Slabbing applies mostly to U.S. coins, and to a lesser extent to other popular segments: U.S. government paper money; world coins after 1800; Conder tokens, Hard Times Tokens, etc. The slabbing of ancients is not unknown across all issues, but the commodization of ancients seems limited to Imperial Roman denarii before 200 AD. We all know that. The fact remains that numismatics is much broader and deeper than this. These areas of slabbing represent the majority of the money and the minority of interests in numismatics. A compelling argument for leaving coins natural comes from collectors of colonial American coins, Early American Copper in general, and ancient coins. Few of these coins are mint state. The vast majority are in circulated grades and are patinated or toned. After so many hundred years in the ground, handling an Athenian tetradrachm is not going to hurt it. You might as well enjoy holding the coin that George Washington might have spent. Slabbing it only creates an artificial barrier to the historicity. If slabbing a coin seems silly, how about slabbing an auction catalog? SLABBED STACK'S CATALOG LOCATED Dan Hamelberg writes: "In response to Michael Schmidt's question on the John Ford slabbed Stack's catalog, I have it in my library. I purchased it years ago ( I don't remember the exact year) at an NBS meeting. John Ford donated it for an NBS auction, and I was the lucky buyer. It measures 10 inches tall by 8 inches wide in the "holder". The slab insert reads: Bibliographic Universal Grading Service (BUGS) Item: Stacks 3/17/93 Halperin Catalogue; 2nd Printing, unlaminated cover Registered To: John J. Ford, Jr. Grade: MS-70 Centering: Perfect Aging: None There is a 3/4 inch margin of duct tape around the perimeter which seals the catalogue inside the plastic slabs. I do not recommend this method of storage for numismatic literature - it makes it difficult to read." http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v08n32.html
toning, etc. Interesting stuff, I think it confirms why I thought people did this in the first place. I guess I'm in it for a different reason, and don't have a bunch of expensive or key coins anyway! I opened my nickel book the other day to take a look (the nickels have a plastic divider over both the fron tand the back) and noticed that some of my BU coins from only a few years ago are "toning." Is this normal in a book after only a few years?
it can be, really it depends on what environment they album is stored in. Make sure it is in a dry environment with relative low temperature. You can put the labum in a plastic air-tite bin with some silica to combat humidity. if its a dansco album you can try the archival slip-covers to combat toning. and on another subject... is the toning attractive? many people pay a premium for attractive toned coins!
This is my thinking exactly. Midas has a great handle in expressing my thoughts on this subject, as if I said it myself. I buy raw, when I think I am cherry-picking a grade or variety. Morgans for the most part. The `I buy this coin from you as grade X, but you want buy the same coin from me as grade X minus one` has been going on forever. I trust ANACS for grade and variety as far as Morgans go. I even own an ICG Morgan. Mostly, it has to be PCGS, or NGC. I have (my opinion) some ANACS Morgans that better their PCGS and NGC counterparts. Even my lone ICG holds up well vs PCGS and NGC. I think I can grade, which is why I give my opinion on raw, and these TPG`s. Each of the so-called big 4 TPG has their ups and downs. Midas said it well...... Buy the coin......
Let me put that another way...I trust ANACS...I feel safe buying a key date coin that is slabbed because I know that more than 1 guy has looked at the coin...I know that they are smarter than I...and for the most part...I would much rather have a ANACS slab than a PCGS slab...now I will also say I have seen ANACS coins that I thought were over graded...but never more than 1 point. Speedy
By archival slip covers do you just mean the plastic that slides in front of the coins? Thay are already in that. The toning is very minor, on a '92 P it looks like it's working its way in from the edges, and actually isn't unattractive. But like I said, you can barely see it. On a '96 D it is almost defined -- like a definite (though not straight) border running across the obverse. I pull these from circulation, so maybe it contacted something along the way? None of my other recent coins have anything like that, so maybe so!
no, the slip-covers are a seperate thing, you can read about them here: http://www.brent-krueger.com/dansco.html
