To slab or not to slab.

Ok ???

 

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:desk: I am now officially dumber having read your post.

 

Glad to be of service...
I'm simply stating my opinion that the need to encapsulate is a bit overdone. How valueable is a modern coin in tpg ms 69 condition when you can find literally hundreds of such coins for sale? I'd rather spend my money on coins than plastic. Is that clear enough? I guess what I'm saying is I don't buy into a publication that tells me a statehood quarter is worth like $100 because it's in a plastic holder that says ms 70. Perhaps you think that is a bargain or something. If you can counterfeit a coin, you can counterfeit a slab. It is not a foolproof way to purchase coins sight unseen. I'll take the "raw" coin I can see with my own two eyes over a slab any day.

 

While I agree with your basic premise that the encapsulation and grading of very common coins is way overdone, your exaggeration of slab counterfeiting and downplaying of the value of the authentication and grading service provided by TPG's hurts the credibility of your opinion. I admire your passion about the issue, but it can easily be perceived as that of a lunatic fringe.

Furthermore, a statehood quarter (any issue) in MS70 would be worth thousands of dollars not $100. Like most other business strike coins, they are extremely rare in any grade above MS67. If you don't believe me, check the population reports.

I agree with Ben's approach to slabbing coins except I use the $200 rule instead of $300. The only addition I would make is about rainbow toned coins. With the number of coin doctors, they need to be encapsulated to assure the buyer that the coin's toning is market acceptable in the eyes of the TPG.

For those people who really hate TPG's, ask yourself this question. If you are going to purchase a $10K coin, do you want it to be raw or slabbed? As a follow up question, why?

 

http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=5286&universeid=313

I don't make this stuff up, it's right on the pcgs website.

I'm not going to pay $1000s of dollars for any coin, period. I have a family and their needs take priority over my coin collection. I understand there are plenty of collectors with lots of disposable income, and if they feel they have to have the absolute best collection, then tpg is certainly the way to go. I'm a hobbyist, not an investor. It's not practical for me to pay 3 times as much for a proof because it's tpg. I'm sorry if my opinions sound "radical" or "extreme" but the hobby is fun even without treating your coins like stocks and bonds.

 

I agree+ But I am at the age that I have to safeguard my collection.

But after I gone I do not want my collection that my son will get to be sold off a scrape silver & gold and copper.he know that my Morgan Dollar set he must pass it down to the family. but the other coins & tokens if he want to sell I want him to get top dollar and having TPG graded on the items is a safe way to pass it on in my mind.

 

I'm not saying not to use tpg services at all. There are many valid reasons to want certain coins certified. I'm just not very interested in collecting slabs personally. I dunno, if no one in my family picks up the coin collecting torch, I'll probably sell my collection myself. They're just coins, it's not like you can take them with you. Well I suppose you could but geez someone would probably rob your grave!

 

Yea, I'm afraid not.Wait! What was this about? lol

 

I'm very interested in developing my grading skills..I like the idea you've put forth about a "composite standard".

Also...what do you think of Dominion Grading Services (DGS)?

 

IMHO (Sorry if this has been stated before BTW) 'slabbing' is for investors, not collectors. The whole point of collecting coins is being able to hold a piece of the past in your hands. You can't do that with a slabbed coin. Sure, it may increase its resaleabilty and value, but then the value of a coin is more important to you than the coin itself, you are not really a collector, you are one of those pain in the arse speculative investors who drives up the price of coins for people like me who genuinely appreciate the coins for what they are, and I hate you....*shakes fist*

 

okay just to 180 my previous posts I'll now DEFEND slabbing with some pros...

Authenticity...someone else actually thinks "yup that's a coin"

Grade...someone else telling you approx. how much that coin is worth

Plastic...my kid will hopefully have a harder time spending my silver on icecream

Hey, why don't we go opposite and encase all our coins in plastic? then you could get MS-60 coins in change everytime you pay for something in cash. Or we could make the coins out of plastic. Oh wait they already have credit cards.

Now seriously...If I'm going to pony up and buy that trade dollar I've wanted for my type collection, I'm looking at a three to four figure transaction...and there are ALOT of replicas out there. I'd definately want tpg backing on that transaction, either pcgs or ngc. I'm just not familiar enough with the coin to buy raw and get, well, a RAW deal. But I wants it, its my precious, yesh.

Or I could pay $5-10 and get a replica. I don't do replicas. They do nothing for me.

Slabbing moderns like Statehood quarters to me is a waste of time and money. It's very speculative and I just don't see the value. I'll compare it to baseball cards. Back in the 80's everyone was doing baseball cards. Almost all the cards from the 80's have depriciated from the prices they had in their heyday. However if you bought the RIGHT cards from the 50's you still have a fairly respectable investment.

If you are slabbing you are concerned to some degree about value, as you can preserve coins just fine at a cheaper price and in a more attractive manner. I don't see the value in slabbing modern clads. Maybe silver statehoods because of the relatively low mintage. But then you add the value of the metal used as well.

I don't see guys rushing out to slab their holographic colorized Obama tribute Kennedy halves, so I'm guessing you know it's what you slab, not the slab itself.

Alot of my collection is straight from circulation. I'm constantly upgrading coins and working on my grading eye, but they just go in used blue Whitmans I got cheap. Why do I collect from circulation? It's my lottery, it's fun and exciting to me, and it doesn't really cost anything.
To me it is more about treasure hunting, not hoarding. I'd love to find a lincoln 55 dd, or an indian, or better. I realize that down the line I'm going to have to pay to get the coins I really want, but I'm still figuring out what those are.

Just because it's in a slab doesn't mean it's worth buying. There are plenty of nice morgans out there, and they will stay nice in their plastic, but they won't appriciate nearly as fast as you hope. If you're buying the coin and not the slab, do you really need the slab?

 

After hearing and seeing a lot of ugly coins and being new to this, slabbing would be final consensus for the future.

 

As a Military Payment collector and dealer, This issue raises alot
Of questions though in general i think its a good idea! For two
Reasons counterfeits and collection superiority, Lets face it
We all have the competitive spirit of having something better then
The other guy:bow:

 

I only get coins slabbed or buy coins that are slabbed when it is a key or semi-key date, gold, or when it is a high mint state grade.

To date I only have six slabbed coins, five from PCGS, one from PCI and are all Peace Dollars

 

Thanks for shaing:
Well it kind of depends for you have to weigh the cost of slabbing against the value of the coin. It makes little sense to spend $12 - $30 to slab a coin that is only worth $25 or less. The point at which value makes the cost worthwhile can only be determined by the idividual.

:high5:
​

 

I won't even consider pre-1933 US gold unless it is in a reputable slab.

 

I can think of so many reasons to encapsulate, Accurate grading, Authenticity, Resale, The list is long what ever the value! Not doing
It:headbang:

 

Without explaining the physics of reversing the encapsulation process, I can state that you will not harm the coin if you carefully place the coin holder lengthwise between the jaws of a 5" (max. jaw opening) vise with preferably steel jaws, so that the holder is unsupported except by the jaws clamping, and slowly clamp the holder until you hear a cracking noise. The maximum bending moment is at the center of the holder, so the opening will often start there. Remove the holder, and rotate 90 degrees, clamping on the narrower dimension of the holder, again slowly clamping until hearing the cracking sound. Rotate the holder in 90 degree increments until the holder finally generally breaks on 4 sides (usually less than 360 degrees). While the holder is clamped, carefully insert the end of a flat screwdriver into an opening in the holder side, and slowly rotate the screwdriver handle axially, 90 degrees. It's preferable to place a clean cloth under the holder in the jaws, to catch the coin if unprepared when the holder finally fails. This process applies virtually no shock to the coin, while stressing the case, causing a fissure at the "parting line". The ease of removal will vary between Holder designs, but this process works for virtually all holders, without coin damage, because the holder is placed in bending, causing shear, where the coin is placed in compression against a material with far lower allowable compressive strength.

 

Like anything else Tpg,s bring a higher rate of return, Especially if it,s old
And in a high grade