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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 8183798, member: 110350&quot;]I think the majority of ancient coin collectors would strongly disagree with almost every word you just said. (Including &quot;and&quot; and &quot;the,&quot; to use&nbsp; the famous quotation from Mary McCarthy about another famous writer.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The purpose of slabbing the Smithsonian&#039;s collection is not to preserve (never mind increase) market value or provide assurance that a coin slabbed X years ago is the same coin presently inside that slab. It&#039;s to preserve condition while still allowing scholars and curators access to the actual coin for examinations, study, and research.&nbsp; If you really think a coin can be properly examined for scholarly purposes while still inside a slab, you&#039;re way off base. And, yes, I suppose there&#039;s a risk that a dishonest scholar left alone with a valuable coin could switch it for a less valuable example of the type, and then go off and sell the Smithsonian&#039;s copy. But that can happen with all sorts of valuable objects in museum collections, as with the occasional cases of rare book &amp; art dealers caught slicing valuable prints out of books, or stealing small drawings or paintings kept in storage. Should we permanently encase all those kinds of objects in permanent plastic slabs as well, just because of the risk?</p><p><br /></p><p>In any event, I think a lot of people here would be much more likely, not less so, to use the services of companies such as NGC if they offered a David Sear-type certificate as an option, perhaps along with an openable holder.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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