Coming soon ,waterproof PCGS slabs

Yipe! Diluted bleach is perfect for killing mold and mildew, but the free chlorine it contains would be terribly dangerous to coins, I'd think. Even if no liquid penetrates the slab, the gas could get in and cause damage.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I am not entirely sure Doug. Despite my jokes, water proof implies air tight and this could have implications for a coin's ability to tone or turn in the slab.

 

I'm not 100% sure about that. I was wondering if they were using one of the new superhydrophobic coatings to block water without going to a fully airtight seal (and the associated risks of sealed-in moisture or air-pressure-related stress.

 

Now I don't have to be afraid to take my coins with me for a dip.

 

You should have those pieces reholdered. Spores could theoretically enter the slab and still pose a threat to your coins.

 

That is interesting, but I don't think even hydrophobic coatings wouldn't confer 100% resistance to water. You would think at some point, the osmotic pressure to go into the slab would exceed the increased energy and decreased stability associated with the hydrophobic interactions with the coating.

 

We'll see what PCGS actually claims for the slabs, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a lot less than "100% resistance" -- they may be targeting splash resistance more than prolonged or deep immersion. (In prolonged immersion, if nothing else, I'd expect water vapor to permeate to the interior and start condensing.)

But I keep hearing breathless blurbs about the superhydrophobic coatings, and I keep wondering when I'll encounter them in real life, and I wondered if this was the moment.

 

That would have been helpful before hurricane Katrina. My coins sat underwater for almost a month. Thankfully NCS helped me out and conserved all of the coins worth conserving free of charge.

 

It nearly took out the fish

 

Which did not react to the slab being dropped in. I haven't looked but has PCGS posted anything on their website about this or is it just a facebook thing?

 

Well, there's lots of reasons for them to be water proof. In case of a fire, some fire safes may protect from the heat but could let water in. As others stated, a flood is concern. It would also probably reduce if not eliminate the problem of storing them in a humid environment.

Now, lets think about how many years ago they could have and should have, started doing this? Now that they've slabbed millions, I guess they all have to be sent back and re-slabbed for another fee. The old Ipod analogy again. Apple could have introduced what we have today to begin with, but then consumers wouldn't have had six generations of them to replace over the years. Don't be surprised if colored, differently shaped slabs containing all the existing features, become available some day. lol

I'm glad they're going to make these but long past over due. We'll just have to pretend that the tech and know how was recently invented.

 

At the fall Baltimore show I picked up a sample slab with a 2014 cent in it. Threw it into a similar bowl of water for just over a week just to see what would happen. To my surprise, absolutely no water damage.

 

Sure, because there haven't been any technological advancements over the last ten or fifteen years, or any important technology acquisitions. Like, for example, Apple's 2005 purchase of FingerWorks, the source of the multi-touch technology used on the iPhone, iPad and iPod.

Do you really think that anybody could have built a contemporary iPod in 2001? Trust me, microelectronics don't work that way.

Again, that's how tech and know-how work. Unless you think we got it all from the saucer people in 1947, and They have just been doling it out ever since...

 

OK, they could have started with the 4th generation. I concede. Lol
It was maybe a poor comparison to make with coin slab technology. I'll replace iPod reference with coin slabs from now on.

 

You're probably right.

 

All kidding and random bits of disappointment aside...None of y'all have EVER thought of storing your coins for safe keeping in a shark infested moat? These waterproof holders have just saved me the extra trouble of buying waterproof slab storage boxes! Thank you PCGS.

Also, looking ahead here; can anyone recommend a good type of laxative for my soon to be acquired shiver of sharks? In case one of the slabs gets swallowed of course.

 

Blow up a balloon with water and seal it. As long as there are no manufacturing flaws in it it will hold until the rubber oxides enough that it suffers a catastrophic failure. Blow it up with air and it will usually lose a good deal of its volume within a week. But it can be blown up again and still hold air like before, so there is nothing wrong with the balloon. Air molecules are MUCH smaller than water molecules and can work there way through much smaller spaces within the structure of solids. (And water molecules have attractive forces between them which tends to keep individual molecules from wandering off on their own. Gas molecules are "Every man for himself!".)

 

I know, but that would be expensive on a set of Washington quarters from 32-64. I'll do it one day to get the slabs to match and such anyway, I just couldn't afford it at the time and did the only thing I could think of.

So far they've been stable and that's been about 2-3 years now.

 

The fish was probably greenscreened in.