Sample slab brings $525????

Ok, I know there are those of us that find select niches inside of the 'general' hobby of coin collecting, and different slab types are one of them, then, inside that niche is 'sample slab' collecting. While I say 'To each his/her own', isn't this just a little, or, A LOT crazy?? I may be incorrect, as I'm not a sample slab collector, but this seems just, well......it DOES, IMO, give new meaning to the word 'certifiable'. Opinions? Disagreements (if I'm out of line, I will not take offense)...but this just seems crazy to me....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-ROOSEV...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

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what are sample slabs?
and aren't all slab numbers unique making one slab as valuable as the other? (excluding the coin inside of course)

 

Not an expert on them, but looks like a really old PCGS one. I am guessing most of these were destroyed and are now scarce. Not my cup of tea, but given my weird coins I collect I am not going to throw stones at anyone else's colecting habits.

 

There is a market for these items and they grow more popular each day.

Acan451 is quite knowledgeable on these............

 

It doesn't seem all that crazy to me. Supply and demand. There are probably little of those sample PCGS slabs produced. Without looking through the auction description or looking it up, it wouldn't surprise me if that was one of the first sample slabs.

A collector who is interested in the history of TPG or coin collecting itself would be rather intrigued by the different varieties and types of slabs that have been put out.


P.S.
This is the go to website for information on sample slabs:
http://www.sampleslabs.com/

 

possible 1st gen PCGS?

 

Like the op said it's just another niche in the collecting field , and an interesting one at that .

 

Sampleslabs.com (thanks tmoney....!) shows this as 'PCGS version 1.2', slightly different than, obviously 1.1, and is considered 'scarce'. As far as there being a market, yes, there seems to be (obviously, given the amount of bidders, and winning bid). BUT, you don't see these being auctioned off by, say, Heritage or S&B. It's a very thinly traded niche, if you hope to make your $$ back. Rarity or not, how many collectors are you going to see battling it out for this down the road? Sad thing is, when it comes time to sell it (especially if it's by the buyer's family), there is NO WAY this coin is going to bring anything close to this bid. It's an ungraded Roosie, for gosh sakes, and what do you think a B&M is going to say about it, if it gets sold that way? Any B&M is going to pay based on what it is, and get offered barely nothing, so I HOPE the buyer leaves VERY specific instruction as to where/who to sell it to.

To me (and I am NOT trying to offend sample collectors, please understand that), it's a holdered, ungraded Roosie that someone paid $515 more than I would (and a long time ago, I DID collect a number of sample slabs, grouped in with those 'no longer in business' TPG co's holdered coins....I still love to grab, when available, the old ANACS Photo 'slabs'). I thought to myself one day, 'why am I collecting sample slabs....don't see them on any auction houses sites', if I croak, whomever survives me, will dispose of them like the rest of my collection, and on the samples, without knowing where to find that very small niche, it's bath time.

I still can't understand the fascination of collecting plastic, but, as the saying goes, 'collect what you enjoy', and if samples 'float your boat', more power to you. I don't consider my collection an 'investment', but, who here DOESN'T hope their collection will increase in value? Unless the buyer of that sample sells down the line him/her self before their demise, this is an area where someone's inheritance could very well be worth nada, unless ultra specific instruction is left.

 

I could get two byzantine gold coins for what that piece of plastic went for...whatever

 

Cameron sure started something with that web site!

I can't say that I agree with the price simply because the two top bidders got caught up in a Nuclear Sniping War ( http://www.cointalk.com/threads/someone-went-nuclear-over-the-corporate-ebay-offices-today.245890/ ) which was set off by one of the bidders bidding $255 two days before the listing ended. This enabled another bidder to "walk" the bid upto $256 bucks.

Bidder I***I ( 220 thought he'd sneak in with an outrageous bid only to lose out to a feller "m***e ( 581 who was thinking the same thing! It's just that he was thinking a little harder than the underbidder.

The coin "should" have gone for a bit over $100. Paying more is just wasted money and I expect that the winner will concede that by either cancelling or returning in which case, the coin should come up again in a week or so.

I'd be surprised if it didn't.

 

I've added it to 'my favorites', so I could check on it. I am in 100% agreement with 19Lyds....I won't be holding my breath to see if the actual winner goes through with it, and it'll be interesting to see if the underbidder is offered the coin. If so, my guess is this coin will be back on the 'bay within a week or so. I would have figured maybe $100-$150 MAX.......but as was pointed out, if someone is doing a run of them, well, if you NEED a coin, and opportunity doesn't come knocking often, I guess you pay crazy money, relish in the win, and think about it later. When the thinking part comes around, as 19Lyds says, I believe buyer's remorse will kick in.

Also, boy, Cameron DID start something with that site. Lot's of work went into that. It's amazing how much work he did with sample slabs, in comparison with Conder101's PCGS slab versions thread. Conder has done/did a TON of work, and that's with only one grading co. Cameron must have done sooooo much more, as the amount of TPG's he had to work with is just crazy long (not saying Conder didn't do a lot of work, he quite obviously did, and it's VERY well done, and is used/referred to quite often).

Does anyone know who picked up the reigns of Cameron's sample slab site???

 

Where can I find ancient gold for under $300 a pop. This is a serious question Mat

 

wow

 

Aint pretty but still counts:

http://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/anc..._av_tremissis_15mm_145_gm/477641/Default.aspx

And ive seen them for $225, nice, but I didnt have the $. You'd be surprised how cheap ancient byzantines can be. Medoraman can back me up on that.

 

Yeah id maybe want something better. Like $400-$500 range. I've been wanting an ancient gold for awhile now. I only see graded stuff though and it's always too high. $1000+ or details graded.

 

Late byzantine is the best place to find sub 250 gold byzantine. However, I admit I paid $99 for a Michael VII a few years ago. They can still be found. Heck, I am hoping to buy one tomorrow for about that price.

 

How the devil did you ancient guys get in here?

 

They're using the Force young Greenwalker .

 

Taking over the world Ken taking over the world......

 

I was watching that 1957 PCGS Rattler Sample and did some early bidding on it, but gave up at about $100. As I did not think it was worth much more and that was a streach. There was that hand cut Doily label that sold for some crazy money. $825 or something around that price, a few months ago.

I do collect PCGS Sample Slabs and I have been at it since 2007, Collect rattlers since 2005, and ANACS Photo Certs also. oh yea Out Of Business TPG holders also.
On the selling side of this collection, I think the eBay is the only place to sell them, local coin shop would not pay that kind of cash, Auctions house might not even want to mess with them yet, maybe someday though.
I guess I'am helping conder101 find new compaines and/or holder types.
He has out there PCGS generations and NGC generations, search on either name.
But if you might like a link to see what I have it is ATS on anoughter forum but here is the link anyway
http://purelynumismatics.com/Thread-PCGS-Rattler-Sample-set

I really like hockey also!