Thought I would get these on here for my next thread. I picked these up a while ago and I really like how they are put together, stack and are compacted. The slabs are very sturdy and seem to be well built and small, 1 7/8" wide by 2 5/8" high and 3/8" thick. These are a little thicker then the old ANACS small white holders and the same height. I also like the top labeling of the holder. Not sure if the grading going to this level of grade could ever be popular but leave it to a computer to try and get it this accurate. ** ** ** **
This is my favorite holder and it happens to be one of the rarer ones. The sample Compugrade slabs in particular are rare. Here is my example:
There is also a token that this company put out. Occasionally they pop up on ebay for $5-$25 (the higher number is closer to their market value and the lower number is a good deal). At one point there was a lot of competition for these and some examples were bid up in the $50-$65 range.
All these are rare as these are the only three I have ever seen much less own, in the last seven years I have been collecting the plastic, these three are all I have ever seen so I bought them. Yours makes number 4 and I have the same year just in MS62. I have over 75 different company out of business slabs and this has been more fun then collecting anything on the main street, Morgans, Lincolns, Half dimes, bust dimes, Just not much money to be made but sure is a lot of fun. Just the hunt is fun and you never know what is in that dealers junk box. Somebody needs to save these for the history of the business and I am now one of the few.
There certainly is a small group of us who are dedicated to collecting these odd and unusual slabs to keep the history alive. As for Compugrade, they are rare. In my searches, I have seen more of them, but not a ton. There were two that sold on ebay within the last six months, but I only saw them after the listing ended. I have also seen a few that had PL on the label.
Add 6, Bob including one SAMPLE. That is if you are going to do the census. Interestingly, all of the ones I've seen have cert#s in the 19xxx or 20xxx range. If that holds, then there were originally something like less than 2000 slabbed. For your census (have to dig out the other three) 1883O Morgan - 19485 11 63.8 56 00 00 1921 Morgan - 19710 11 62.6 56 00 00 1924 Peace - 19822 11 61.7 33 00 Somethings to read: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4899392A/en (internal to that are references to PCGS' patents added by the examiner) http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.524.5552&rep=rep1&type=pdf
listingshistory.com shows several eBay sales over the years http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=261743534349 - this is a 4 coin set, 2 Morgans and a Peace and Kennedy half SAMPLE (but the photo resolution doesn't allow reading the cert#s) however, it didn't sell and I think it was sold separately, since the L58 appears on the label of the last one in this list! 1880 Morgan - 19437 62.7 47 00 00: http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=181653240698 1882O Morgan - 19470 64.0 74 00 00: http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=181653240700 1883O Morgan - 19485 63.4 69 00 00: http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=181667540176 1904O Morgan - 19704 62.4 55 00 00: http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=171683885859 1881S Morgan (PL) - 19461 12 65.7 00 48 66: http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=181057733885 1883O Morgan - 19485 63.8 58 00 00: http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=141705480665 1885O Morgan - 1950911652580000: http://www.listingshistory.com/index.php?keywords_input=151436715413 Note the different format label of the last one it says 65.2 on the label, so have to assume it is 1950911 65.2 58 00 00 - which means the cert# is much larger than the others...
@Burton Strauss III something that I noticed is that all the coins from the same date-mintmark combination (i.e. 1883-O) have the same first 5 numbers in their cert. For example, all the 1883-O coins that I have seen (and I know there are at least 5 of them) start with "19485" I still think that there may be less than 2000 slabbed (and definitely less survivors), but I don't think we can judge the total amount slabbed by saying that 19xxx-20xxx could only have produced about 2000 coins.
Interesting... that could be their equivalent of the PCGS coin# then. The bar code on the back doesn't seem to correlate either (I have two with 0001287 - one is a '21 Morgan the other is a '24 Peace.
Not going to do the census. But you guys do bring up some interesting questions. What does the front and back bar codes represent? Front Bar Code 1883-O #19485 11 62.9 58 00 00 Morgan Dollar 1901-O #19677 11 62.1 47 00 00 Morgan Dollar 1967 __#27045 11 00.0 00 00 00 SAMPLE Kennedy Half 5 digit coin number, ??, 4 digits for grade, ?? ?? ??? Back Bar Code 1883-O #0000006 01 117 001 1901-O #0000484 08 002 001 1967 ___SAMPLE I might have two generation of labels here also. with the sample and 1901-O having the extra info on say line 4 "L00" on the sample, "L47" on the 01-O, and missing on the 83-O Think I will just go to the shows and look for this stuff for sale and talk/teach to the dealers that want to learn something about the plastic, samples, old ANACS photo certs. I always bring some for show and tell. Most dealers if they have time are interested in the history and will talk to me. That is where I have the most fun is at the shows passing on the info!
The bar codes just match the numbers being printed (not sure if I have one with the extra code to scan). Not a fancy bar code, cell phone reads it fine. But no sign of a certificate type number. Could be they just assumed it would bw reprocessed and regraded vs. verification usage?
Yes I agree that the bar code matched the numbers but what do the numbers mean? Just like at ANACS with the bar code each digit (or section) represents a code for what the coin is. ie...coin number, grade, serial number, problem code (cleaned, rim damaged), ect http://www.anacs.com/contentPages/BarCode.aspx
Well, the patent talks about: Also Which could be the extra numbers (if as we suspect the coins were actually manually graded, these might not have been calculated).
I'll post a few Compugrade "oddities" here: *Compugrade "N9 Minimum grade" ...this one has moved on to another CT Member https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ins-slab-morgan-cracked-out-of-compugrade-holder.263004/ *And a Compugrade baseball card...apparently a different company...this one was sold on ebay and is now once again listed by some other seller https://www.cointalk.com/threads/compugrade-question.280968/
I guess the obverse and reverse bar codes are like XY coordinates for where the marks are located, Image 3 and 4 of the patent has a Peace Dollar broken down into sections and these could be the missing numbers on the bar codes. (sure wish I had a Peace Dollar in this holder.) Like you said "Which could be the extra numbers (if as we suspect the coins were actually manually graded, these might not have been calculated)." [by the computer]
The barcode would have nothing to do with the digital fingerprint, that would be stored in the services computer. Think about it, the typical silver dollar will have DOZENS if not hundreds of tiny contact marks the the computer would map out in the fingerprint. How would you put that information INTO the barcode in just a few digits? I also find the Compugrade slab to be my favorite. One thing that Robert didn't mention is that the plastic seems to be unusually dense. These small slabs seem to have a VERY solid heavy feel to them. Much more so than the small ANACS slabs do which are of similar size. Small size, solid heavy feel, stackable, and top labeling. A very well designed slab.
I was thinking the patent was mentioning that only one or two major hits would be on the bar code (not all) but Not sure I interpreted that correctly. I am only putting ideas out there, I have no idea why there is a front and back bar code, or what anything on the bar code means. I do like these slabs for all the reasons you and ddddd had mentioned. Since it is only like a 4 month company in 1991. Was there any other label you have seen?