Do you like coins in slabs?

How many of you like to buy slabbed coins? Have you ever been ripped off when buying a slabbed coin?

Aidan.

 

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If i get one it is great, but i won't pay a premium for it.
No i have not been ripped off.

 

Aidan,
I never was big on slab coins, if you can grade a coin why pay someone to do it for you ?

 

I wouldn't have a raw coin slabbed unless it could be worth hundreds of dollars. But I will buy slabbed coins particularly PCGS slabbed coins because they seem to bring the highest resale. That is compared to ANACS and NGC.
I just don't like not being able to get my hands on the coin. Gloved hands that is.

 

I've never been offered slabbed coins.I do work part-time for a coin dealer,however.Yes,I am a collector myself.

Aidan.

 

I don't really like slabbed coins. It doesn't matter how "crystal clear" they try to make the slabs, you still are not able to truly appreciate the coin without being able to rotate it around and view it's sides and get the pure light reflecting off the edges of the devices. I would personally not entomb a coin I love to such a fate.

 

Dont like em and dont want em LOL

De Orc :kewl:

 

what NPC said.

A lot of my coins are in capsules...my bro said 'I bet you just want to get them out and manhandle them don't ya?
He's right of course...but I wouldn't do it.

Anyhoo, at least with capsules you're ALMOST holding it lol...if it was in a slab that would just be annoying.


I don't think there are any British slabbing companys anyway?

 

Agree 100%.

 

I buy coins in slabs---I like them for some coins and have cracked some out that I wanted raw.
As for being ripped off.....I've never really been ripped off---I've lost money on coins but it was really my fault for buying the coin at higher than I should have in the first place.
It it always easy to be ripped off but IMHO it is easier to be ripped off buying raw coins----I've gotten some heck of a deals in slabs....I know people are sick of me telling this but I once got a 1926-S Buff Nickel graded by PCI a F-15---I paid around F price ($110)---I sent it to NGC and it came back VF20---value around $340.

Speedy

 

I bought my first slab on Thursday: an 1880-S Morgan graded MS -62 by the PCGS (green lable). When I looked at this coin, the Reverse just screamed out to me that the coin was undergraded. So, for the price of grading and the price of the coin, I think I got a deal.

Having been typed, I know some people in the comic book collecting hobby that call slabs "coffins" because the comic is then "dead" to them. You can't hold or read the book anymore. Unless you break that slab.

So for me, slabs are neat for some coins. But I like putting that raw coin in my album to complete that set.

 

Absolutely true! But, I collect comics, too and I buy slabbed comic books simply as an investment. Once a comic is slabbed, it becomes a commodity to be traded just like gold, silver or soy beans. You can no longer hold it in your hand and feel the paper. You can't smell the newsprint. You certainly can't read the book anymore!

I also buy coins in slabs, but I don't consider them to be merely "commodities". Because coins only have three sides (and two of them are fully exposed in slabs), the enjoyment of looking at the coin is still there. You can still see the mint luster, all the devices and just about everything that makes a coin a "coin". The only thing you're missing is touching the coin itself. Besides, I place most of my coins in some sort of protective shield (i.e., Airtites, Dansco's, 2x2's, etc.) which don't allow me to actually touch the coin anyway.

So, why not buy a slabbed coin that's been graded by an independent third-party grader? Most of the hobby accepts the grade assigned by the major TPG's and will even trade them sight unseen. I know, I know most of you would consider a "sight unseen" trade as a cardinal sin, but you must admit that countless trades happen this way. And, for the most part, the buyer is completely satisfied because they agree with the grade assigned by the TPG.

Slabbed coins are a welcome addition to my collection. I've yet to be dissatisfied with the grade of any of my slabbed coins.

 

I don't buy slabbed coins, but if I am given coins in slabs, then I'll keep them in there.

 

Bravo!

 

Disagree with some points here. Unless there is a major revolution in the design of slabs, I don't see a reason why I should slab my coins any time soon. A coin IS a 3D object, not two 2d images stuck together. If that's the case, you might as well take photos and shove them in your pc for enjoyment purposes.

Recently I found an extremely interesting coin which could be worth a lot more than I expected:

Russia 1720 Ruble


Now if you actually CARED to look at the edge:


The edge reads as 1719!

If this coin was in a slab, I don't think I would have made such discovery anytime.

However for the higher end of rarer coins, I do agree that some should be slabbed, especially coins that are highly prone to counterfeits. Even so, the major TPGs have made mistakes in the past. I do agree with all of the points GDJMSP have made though.

 

Don't know for sure. I suspect quite a few.
There has been a flood of new interest sinse the Statehood quarter program. Many of the newer folks aren't familiar with things like coins, coin dealers, and third party grading.
From what I've read, and for whatever reason, many feel safer buying "certified" material.

I've spent most of my life connected to the hobby, in one way or another, and have come to the conclusion that I don't need to pay someone to tell me what I can find out for myself.

I've only bought one.
It was an ANACS slab.
The coin had been cleaned, although there was no mention of this on the holder.
I was able to study it in hand, because I bought it at a coin show.
The dealer, and I agreed on a price, and I bought it.

I wasn't going by what was on the label, so to answer the question, no, I wasn't ripped off.

 

Seems to me that slabbing (I assume you associate a professional grade with slabbing) serves a couple of purposes. One it protects the coin, but there are lots of ways to do that.
The slab guarantees (or should if done right) that the coin in it is the coin that was graded. The important thing is the grade that lets you buy coins you can't hold and examine with some level of assurance. Compare the number of people ripped off on E-Bay who buy raw coins with the number that buy slabbed coins. You might disagree with the exact grade, but it is almost always close to the "correct" grade.

 

For lower value coins, it doesn't matter to me slabbed or raw. But for higher value items or ones that may go bad, I prefer slabbed. Perfect example: A few years back I bought a 1908 S Indian Cent raw. Later, it was quickly consumed by the green monster mad: ) and nothing I could do about it at that point, as it had eaten away the fields of the coin. If it were in a PCGS or NGC holder, they at least have a guarantee for coins that 'turn' bad in the holder.

 

I will only buy high valued coins in slabs anymore. I prefer the protection, professional authentication and grading; and I think it makes the coin easier to resell. However, I try not to pay more than a small premium over the price of raw coins unless there is something else that makes it special enough to pay a few extra dollars.