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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 66307, member: 57463&quot;]<b>When I was young, we didn&#039;t have tek-nol-oh-gee...</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>1.&nbsp; Commoditization of coins is one of the goals of slabbing.&nbsp; That has been acknowledged here and it seems broadly true.&nbsp; Commoditization is not to the point where they are universally recognized, as for instance, coffee or soybeans, which are truly commodities.</p><p><br /></p><p>2.&nbsp; Many alternative holders for coins allow you to show them -- and remove them, and put them back.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>3.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; The slabbing of ancients is not unknown across all issues, but the commodization of ancients seems limited to Imperial Roman denarii before 200 AD.&nbsp;&nbsp; We all know that.&nbsp; The fact remains that numismatics is much broader and deeper than this.&nbsp; These areas of slabbing represent the majority of the money and the minority of interests in numismatics.</p><p><br /></p><p>A compelling argument for leaving coins natural comes from collectors of colonial American coins, Early American Copper in general, and ancient coins.&nbsp; Few of these coins are mint state.&nbsp; The vast majority are in circulated grades and are patinated or toned.&nbsp; After so many hundred years in the ground, handling an Athenian tetradrachm is not going to hurt it.&nbsp; You might as well enjoy holding the coin that George Washington might have spent.&nbsp; Slabbing it only creates an artificial barrier to the historicity.</p><p><br /></p><p>If slabbing a coin seems silly, how about slabbing an auction catalog?</p><p><br /></p><p><b>SLABBED STACK&#039;S CATALOG LOCATED</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Dan Hamelberg writes: &quot;In response to Michael Schmidt&#039;s</p><p>question on the John Ford slabbed Stack&#039;s catalog, I have it</p><p>in my library. I purchased it years ago ( I don&#039;t remember the</p><p>exact year) at an NBS meeting. John Ford donated it for an</p><p>NBS auction, and I was the lucky buyer. It measures 10 inches</p><p>tall by 8 inches wide in the &quot;holder&quot;. The slab insert reads:</p><p><br /></p><p>Bibliographic Universal Grading Service (BUGS)</p><p>Item: Stacks 3/17/93 Halperin Catalogue; 2nd Printing,</p><p>unlaminated cover</p><p>Registered To: John J. Ford, Jr.</p><p>Grade: MS-70 Centering: Perfect Aging: None</p><p><br /></p><p>There is a 3/4 inch margin of duct tape around the perimeter</p><p>which seals the catalogue inside the plastic slabs. I do not</p><p>recommend this method of storage for numismatic literature -</p><p>it makes it difficult to read.&quot;</p><p><i><a href="http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v08n32.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v08n32.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v08n32.html</a></i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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