I just received a group of medals encapsulated in the NGC slabs designed for coins/medals over 45mm in diameter. I was fine with the grades assigned. Some comments regarding these huge slabs.... I was nervous about damaging very large, heavy medals stored in drawers and ziploc bags. I'm happy with the protection the large slabs afford even very heavy medals. They can accomodate very thick pieces and those with very high relief. They were shipped in individual foam sheaths to prevent scratching (I can't tell whether the slabs are of the scratch resistant variety.) The medals I submitted were 63-76 mm in diameter and the extra large slabs showcased them well. However, I'd hesitate to have an item as small as 46mm encapsulated in the extra large slabs lest the slab overwhelm the piece (like a 3c silver in an old "fattie" holder). My understanding is that there currrently is no intermediate size slab. The extra cost was $25 per slab. Ok, but one of the 5 had a group of distracting black marks on the white slab insert (quality control?) I've seen this on regular slab inserts as well but on a jumbo it's particularly noticable. Time from receipt to shipping-3 months to the day (regular world-no special imaging). I don't know if slabbing in the extra large holders contributed to the lengthy turnaround.
Why don't they use the "easy edge view" holder on the large slabs? Would that be too difficult? -Brian
Brian, One of the primary concerns is that the prongs of the EdgeView slabs would not be strong enough to support the weight of larger medals. The information I obtained is that the EdgeView holder is made only for the standard size slab. However, the pronged holder can be adapted for thicker slabs if the coin or medal is struck in high relief. Ten of my ANA Convention medals (38mm) were struck in high relief and are in the EdgeView slabs (see photo) which are the same length and width as the normal slab. Yarm, As I recall, when NGC introduced the oversized slabs, I saw a display at FUN 2009 and there were several different sizes. I could be wrong. Chris
