Both are correct. PCI did the expert signature thing twice, once in the early years and that one died because they used pre-signed inserts. Then later when Beardsley's widow owned the company and that was the time when they stopped paying the experts for their work. The ones shown above are from the second time.
Conder101- so what does that make these? It's pinkish on the front and red on the reverse... also looks like it was a sample, but doesn't say "sample"... I think the signature shows signs of being digitized...
I would say it IS a sample even though it doesn't say so. It is from the later series, it doesn't have a grade, it doesn't indicate a variety or anything special. It appears to be a slab designed to show off what the new PCI Signature Series slab and label would look like. (As such a digitized signature would not be surprising.) At least they would be a Sample if they were issued by PCI. They could also have been something that Staton made up advertising himself or his association with PCI in which case they would be an Advertising Slab. The question is where does/did the phone number go? To PCI or J T Stanton? Either way it isn't a production slab.
D'oh... and me the Google and Internet Archive WayBack machine user... CoinAucthionHelp.com lists it as the phone# of DGS... the current pcicoins.com lists it as an alternate number (800-277-COIN). So I'll go with PCI samples for fifteen bucks, Alex.
Thanks for all the added info, Conder! It made this thread even more interesting. Although I didn't intend for this thread to be solely about the PCI/JT Stanton relationship, it makes me wonder how many slabs JT actually signed at the FUN Show that year. Chris
If you look closely at each letter, individually, you can see slight variations in the stroke of the pen. For example, the loop of the "J" in the middle slab is smaller than the other two, and the loop of the "J" in the right hand slab is slightly rounder than in the first slab. Keep comparing each of the other letters, and you can see numerous differences. Chris