I ran into a little group of these and the fellow said they were test slabs for a new label. It seems strange to me that PCGS would let these get out of house. Any ideas on these?
Right there they were. This is the description. Thank you for sharing the knowledge with me. Instead of a grade on this one, PCGS just put “MS” which stands for “Mint State.” “Sample” is placed above the right hand side of the serial number like PCGS5.1. This sample was a dealer only sample to show them the new label. They were given to PCGS dealers and not the general public. It contains a 90% silver half dollar and I think they did this so the slab had a better chance of staying intact or not being thrown away by the dealers. A neat sample, and most of the Kennedy Halves I have seen are in the MS-64 grade range.
This style of Sample slab (PCGS 4S2 in my cataloging system) can also be found with circulated Morgan dollars in the holder. (Cameron probably list the Morgan as well but with a different number. He gives each different coin in a holder style its own number. I give each holder style its own number and may list the different coins that can be found in that style.) While they were intended to be distributed only to dealers they are reasonably easy to acquire, and I have even seen full box lots of the Kennedy half slabs from time to time. (Surplus intended for distribution at a show and not needed. Some how they got "liberated" and eventually found their way to the marketplace.)
At the last Mothers Day show I was at, I came across 3 Morgans Slabbed by PCGS with the Blue labels And they did NOT say sample on them. I asked the dealer and he said they have been out for a while. I have never seen them on Ebay or on any of the other auction sites I view. Anyone out there have a blue labled PCGS coin ?
Charlie32 is correct, PCGS began using the blue labels in November of 1998. The first blue label slabs had the barcode on the back and they diid not have the Coin and series numbers on the front. That slab style is very scarce today. Do not confuse them with the current slab style that has a different hologram and the barcode on the front label. They have only been around since Nov of 2005 when PCGS dropped the Coin and series numbers from the label. (Coin and series numbers were used from Jan 1999 to Nov 2005)
