Getting Roman Coins Slabbed Question.

looks like ICG and NGC are the only ones--all the ancients I have are graded by NGC--good luck--

I would buy a slab either; or I would crack it open as soon as I got it...but, the people at NGC are very capable and would notice an edge seam.

There aren't really any TPGs in Britain at all; certainly none that are competent or recognized in slabbing ancients.

Of the two American companies, NGC is currently the leader in ancients; PCGS is still ambiguous in it's timetable for ancients grading, so if you've got your heart set on slabbification of ancients, then NGC is the only boat.

The question then becomes, "does being slabbed actually help?", in terms of selling an ancient coin online in Britain. Your small sample size does seem to indicate that yes, it does help, so there's that. On the negative side is of course the time, money, and hassle of shipping the coins off to America and waiting who knows how many months for the slabbed coins to be sent back to you.

I would say that if your time and/or the money is important and significant (i.e. you need the money from the sale for specific and immediate reasons) then slabbing isn't worth the time and initial expense. But if you can afford to wait, then why not? It seems to be the more profitable end-result.

I should note that I personally am saying this while in the "wouldn't buy a slabbed ancient" camp, except perhaps to own one NGC ancients slab just for the sake of the slab, rather than the coin (I own about a dozen slabbed coins, but they really form my "slab collection" and not part of my "coin collection"). If I did buy an ancient coin I really wanted and it happened to be slabbed, I too would probably crack it out; for me, being "in a slab" would actually add a slight negative value, as I would need to go to the trouble of carefully cracking it.

Which really tells me that there are actually two markets for "slabbed ancient coins" and "unslabbed ancient coins", quite distinctly separate with very little overlap; most collectors of ancients will either want them all slabbed (a minority) or none of them slabbed (the majority). So while the slabbed ancient market might be smaller (and mainly US-based), that market is prepared to pay higher prices for the same coins.