I have a bunch of date / mint mark sets of various coins that I have assembled in Dansco folders. However, a lot of my coins, especially key dates, are certified, so they do not fit in the folders. It makes my complete sets look incomplete with that gaping hole there, so I figure it would be nice to have some kind of plastic plug. For example, with my mercury dime set, the 1916-D, 1921, 1921-D, and a few others are all certified, so why not fill the album hole with a dime-sized piece of plastic that says "slabbed" or "certified"? Has anyone heard of something like this? Know where to find them?
Probably the most cost effective way that I can think of is get a compass cutter and cut a cardboard to shape. You can get perfect circle in that way.
You're an inventor but don't know it. Set yourself up with a patent and a trademark, hire a tiddly-winks company to manufacture them (or our buds in China) and you're on your way. Sell 'em on eBay, get bought out by a hedge fund, and retire.
Go to a local trophy engraving/sign shop. Most of them have CNC CO2 lasers. Ask them to cut out a bunch of circles from colored acrylic that are exactly the size of a dime, quarter, etc. They can engrave the circles at the same time with words like "slabbed". Show up with a few of the appropriate coins in your pocket so they can measure them exactly. Since you just need circles (a simple shape to draw) they shouldn't charge you too much for the artwork. Or, if you have a vector drawing program you can draw your circles ahead of time and show up with the computer file.
I was just thinking about this myself. So far I have just used a piece of paper with info printed from my printer. but... anyone have a 3d printer? you could make a LEGAL coin sized bit with maybe part of the face on the coin and some lettering to say where's and what for's about the one you have slabbed. if you use paper, be sure to use acid free, If plastic, NOT something with volatiles like soft PVC but something archive safe.
You could use a thin piece of plastic/cardboard get an old red book and cut out the coin from the page and glue it to the whatever you use to plug the hole.
All this "gluing and pasting"... I know that a member here at CT going by the handle "gxseries" makes virtual albums of his own coins. I suggest that you take a look at them. Such an approach would alleviate the conundrum of not being able to put slabbed coins and "raw" coins in an album together: http://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/japan_type_set_1870_current Or you can do what I did: Crack 'em out and put 'em in airtights with the little paper inserts taped to the inside front cover of your album. Here's what I did (see link below). I think gxseries' solution is actually a better one if you want to keep your coins in their graded holders (as I think 99% of all U.S. coin collectors do). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL24551D13EFF104F3
