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 Replies: 21 / Views: 1,698 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7935 Posts |
Quote:Authenticity is not an issue as collectors pride themselves from learning to discern fakes or using "real" local experts instead of TPG experts. Also there's always some examples floating around of slabbed fakes or incompatibility with the Sheldon scale and other international systems. I think authenticity IS an issue because new collectors do not want to invest the time to learn enough to avoid fakes (the paths that you mention). I think this is not only an American phenomenon. And I think U.S. collectors of foreign coins do not want to invest the time to learn the many different grading systems in use in various countries (is BB in Italy the same as TB in France and III in Poland?). So they prefer to have a slab with a Sheldon grade even if such a grade is meaningless for many hammered coins (for example MS grades for coins with weak strikes where 1/3 of the legends can't be read), and even if the coin costs 25% or 50% more than a raw one.. In the end (whether we like it or not), there is a new service industry (slabbing) where global demand is increasing, and the end result is to make coins more expensive to collectors. If enough collectors decide the "value added" by slabbing is not worth it, they will stop buying slabbed coins, and that indutry will die. But I don't think it will happen. Edited by tdziemia
09/11/2025 10:07 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17905 Posts |
I've noticed big changes in the UK since I started collecting. Over here the emphasis is much more on modern coins, with the issue of 50 pence coins for the Olympic Games in 2011 starting many new collectors. The YouTube sensation 'Christopher Collects' would have been unthinkable a few years ago... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv...hPhPCLjz1d8QSomething else I've noticed is a much greater interest in errors and varieties. In the 1970s most UK collectors were happy just to put aside one example of each coin from every year, and people who studied coins under magnifying glasses to see if the 'I' of 'Elizabeth' pointed to a dot or a space in the denticles were considered rather eccentric, and even major errors were just considered as oddities, of little numismatic interest. Sadly this new awareness has also led to lots of ridiculous postings of non-errors like the £2 coins with the 'edge legend the wrong way up' on ebay. Overall, though, I'm rather happy that the hobby seems to be undergoing a revival, with plenty of young people interested, and even some women! Most newsagents stock two monthly coin magazines, whilst back in the late 1970s you'd find it hard to track down the dying 'Coin Monthly' unless you were a subscriber. Edited by NumisRob
09/11/2025 11:33 am
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Valued Member
Italy
284 Posts |
Quote:
I think authenticity IS an issue because new collectors do not want to invest the time to learn enough to avoid fakes (the paths that you mention). I think this is not only an American phenomenon Don't get me wrong, I completely agree that slabs' benefits far outweigh their issues. But I am probably an exception to the more common opinion that slabs are not helpful to avoid fakes for faked international coins and are just a "fad" that will die out. Examples of slabbed fakes that I saw recently discussed in message boards in my country:  by ngc https://www.ngccoin.uk/certlookup/8.../NGCDetails/ (confirmed fake recently made in China) by pcgs https://www.pcgs.com/cert/83216269 (obvious fake)  |
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Moderator
 United States
187862 Posts |
I have had two reasons for buying slabbed coins after resisting for many years... 1) When I decided to build a higher grade secondary Eisenhower dollar set to compliment the one I had in a Dancso album, I considered different options for how to collect and store it. Bobby got me started by selling me two Ikes, one PCGS and one NGC. I settled on building a PCGS set. It was easy to assemble and store the set. A third set in NGC is not out of the question.  2) When I needed to buy higher value key date coins to fill holes in Dansco albums, it was easier to buy-n-crack those coins in slabs. Years ago it seemed like raw examples were plenty, but as many have settled into the "necessity" of slabbing these coins, I had no choice but to fall in line and questioned every raw find, "Why is this not in a slab?"  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5177 Posts |
Slabs are also more sturdy than 2x2 coin flips.
I had several instances where heavy and large silver coins had to be removed from the album because the 2x2 was falling apart under the weight of the coin. Those coins are now in slabs.
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Valued Member
United States
218 Posts |
Quote:
It is undeniable that slabbed coins fetch much higher premiums when sold. So all good coins are slowly getting slabbed because sellers and auction houses want to maximaze gains. And the slabbing companies. They're the ones who found a way to monetize the hobby, and people have really bought in to it. Heck, even Nintendo games and Legos are slabbed nowadays. The monetization of everything is a big cultural change in my lifetime. Quote:
I think authenticity IS an issue because new collectors do not want to invest the time to learn enough to avoid fakes This is cultural change beyond just numismatics. Don't worry about investing time or effort in something; just throw money at it! (Hmm... maybe this is related to the monetization comment above.) Related to this, I'll add that society not reading is a big change. A majority of the coin ID requests in the medieval/ancient forum here seem to be people just wanting a quick answer with no interest in references or context... and I imagine dealers are seeing a lot more of this now than in the past as well. Edited by samoth
09/11/2025 7:39 pm
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Valued Member
Italy
284 Posts |
Quote:
Related to this, I'll add that society not reading is a big change You hit the nail in the head. Can we all imagine what's going to happen down the line? First we unlearned how to write with PCs .. later how to read as everything online is pretty much ready to be consumed. Now with AI .. we will probably just unlearn how to do research or be critical or think for ourselves. I find AI soooo scary .. not for the kind of scenarios we saw in movies in the 90ies.. but because we are at risk of developing such a huge portion of society being completely dumb and acritical.  Am I too grim? |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
381 Posts |
I must admit I don't like slabbing coins and never have. Storage is important though, and I sympathise with the member whose large coins escape from their 2x2 folders. What I've done about this problem is buy a nice little aluminium case with trays in and put the coins in capsules in the trays. Problem solved, and I can get at the coin easily if I want to take a close-up photo of a detail for any reason.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7935 Posts |
@samoth, good points in your post.
I was trying to think of an ex-numismatic analogy to slabbing and came up with home security systems (which also didn't exist when I was a kid but are now ubiquitous).
It's an industry based on fear/insecurity. For numismatics it's both the fear of counterfeits and the fear that your item will retain less value if not slabbed.
Here's a thought ... if more collectors want unslabbed coins and there are fewer of them available, guess what would happen?
Edited by tdziemia
09/12/2025 07:34 am
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Moderator
United States
187862 Posts |
Quote:
Here's a thought ... if more collectors want unslabbed coins and there are fewer of them available, guess what would happen? https://goccf.com/t/431501  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17905 Posts |
Slabbing is beginning to catch on with high-end collectors in the UK, but at present only a very small minority of the coins on sale here are slabbed. I can certainly see a time in the not-too-distant future when frequently-faked coins like Gothic crowns get slabbed as a matter of routine.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2140 Posts |
" Has The Culture Of Coin Collecting Changed" ? As a young kid, I was not as involved or had access to coins as I do today, just a good-old Red Book.. I started collecting (mid-60s) when I was a Boy Scout. No slabs then, or I don't think there were. No talk of "Clean Coins" or the "Sheldon Rating Scale". Just good old sit down and give your coin a name... Maybe as a young kid, I was out of touch, thinking coins were just Poor, Fair, Fine, Very Fine, Extremely Fine, or Uncirculated. Back then, there was no "YouTube" to watch some dealer hyping PCGS and coins and calling everything 'NICE' constantly and often as we see today, in order to push a quick sale. My answer to this question: Yes! |
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Valued Member
United States
218 Posts |
Quote:
Slabbing is beginning to catch on with high-end collectors in the UK Have you noticed that across the board with all UK coins, or more with modern coins? I thought English hammereds were one of the last holdouts from the slabbing trend. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17905 Posts |
Samoth - I've only noticed it with modern expensive new issues and with some high-value milled coins such as Victorian £5 coins. I've yet to see a slabbed hammered coin personally.
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Pillar of the Community
Portugal
655 Posts |
For dealers here the calculation of slabbing is profit-related: they send into slabs those they figure are the best looking coins and try to sell globally for people buying coins as investment. It is noticeable that few rare coins that do not look nice do get put into slabs.
What changed and is having an impact is more people buying coins believing they are an investment. But it is a cyclical change. I have seen it before twice.
Dealers know very well when they are selling fakes and avoid sending the fakes that are obvious by look to be put into slabs. Fakes that are hammered fantasy types they send, and they get slabbed. Those companies know only the mint histories of few countries.I think they can be good on moderns but never on medieval or ancients.
They way the world is going I am now convinced we will see many gold and silver coins melted. Common stuff but it is a loss to numismatics. And the price of difficult coins just keeps going up. I am finding more joy in copper now. They have the same history value.
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Replies: 21 / Views: 1,698 |
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Posted 09/11/2025 11:28 am
