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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,512 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
I have been sitting on this for a few months so here goes. A dealer of mine, Vinny, prides himself on unslabbed coins. He knows his stuff. So when I saw a case of his slabs I questioned him. "Why?" "To prove to certain collectors that I know what I am talking about!" was his reply. Good answer! And when a few weeks ago I bought a slabbed dime from him his last words were, "Shall I break it out for you?" YES, Vinny. Thank you. [He had ALL the tools necessary!] That nasty, perennial question: "Slabbed or not?" can be resolved simply: Sometimes, it make sense. Sometimes, it makes no sense. And all of the time the decision remains with you. 73 of 74 of my Barber dimes reside in a Dansco Album. Only the 1895-O, an AU-58, remains slabbed to preserve its provenance as having passed through Heritage Auction House. My decision, and I stick by it. |
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Valued Member
United States
218 Posts |
The thing I don't like about slabs is that it makes it very hard to take good quality up close pictures of the coin as the plastic interfere with the light. On the other hand I like them because they store nicer.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
The core of my collection numbers about 2,500 pieces. NONE of those are slabbed. For my collection, slabbing would present a very great inconvenience. For this reason, I have never bought slabbed coins. So far as grading is concerned, it is not necessary to have a third party grade a coin for you, provided that you have a good working knowledge of how grading works through all of the different areas of numismatics. Example: I have a Liberty Walking half dollar; I have a Chinese cast cash coin of the Ming Dynasty, and I have a serrated denarius of the Roman Republic. Question: Would you use a TPG for ALL of these three coins? All of my coins are individually identified and written up including purchase price and date on the cardboard / Mylar 2x2 which holds it. That information cannot be fully written up on a slab. If I wish to reorganize my collection all of that information on the 2x2 moves with the coin. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
I am VERY pro-slab. So much so that I'm slowly selling off my raw coins. Most of my Morgans are gone. I had a complete date/mm set (yes, I had a 1893-S -- slabbed). Maybe 20% of them were slabbed. So I asked myself if I wanted to replace the raw coins with slabbed ones. Turns out my interests have changes over the years so my answer was "No". The same thing is going to happen to my Buffalo nickels. And eventually probably my Lincoln Wheaties (although that's still a TBD; the keys are all slabbed). I'd do the same with my Jefferson nickels but there isn't much value there so it may not be worth the effort. The areas of my collection that ARE of interest to me will benefit from this sell-off. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
There's nothing wrong with slabs. Personally I prefer cheap worn coins to expensive slabbed ones most of the time so I have only one slab, a 1942-D Merc. Its ms 65 I think...anyway slabs are very good for certain coins and for protecting coins with beautiful luster, but it really depends on what you collect.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3486 Posts |
My point exactly.
To authenticate highly counterfeited coins - yes.
To protect coins of an exceedingly high grade - yes.
To preserve a provenance - yes.
But to slabbed one's entire collection - why?
To each his or her own.
But chasing a point for the sake of chasing a point? I'll pass.
That is where the TPGs make their money.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
675 Posts |
I think the story of your long time dealer is great, thanks for sharing! He sounds like a good guy, and there are certainly a lot of dealers who fairly and accurately grade coins without the help of 3rd party companies.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
TPG's are good for those who want to sell on ebay and can provide a (mostly) accurate grading and authenticity, that is widely accepted, for what they are selling. Major auction houses don't have to rely on TPG's, especially when it comes to other than machine struck coins. They should and normally do, have a reputation that is sufficiently well enough recognized to provide their own guarantee of accurate grading and authenticity. Most, but not all, TPG's don't even bother with non modern machine struck coins. Certainly, a wider band of knowledge is needed to accurately grade them and to provide a professionally recognized opinion of authenticity. That is a pity. More to the dealer who has all of these skills! These are the people I like to talk to. I get to learn as well. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:Most, but not all, TPG's don't even bother with non modern machine struck coins. I for one appreciate their baby steps approach into it. Like you mentioned theyre probably the hardest class of coins to grade and easily have the most different types. If theyre going to do it I want to see them do it right and not just do it to say they are. Putting together a staff to run a grading room for those cant be an easy task. I dont know if PCGS will ever get in the ancients game or if they even want too, though I'm sure theyre monitoring how NGC has been doing. It seems like both NGC and ANACS ignore coins from the middle ages still or maybe I just missed that submission option on their forms. |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,512 |
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Posted 12/08/2013 06:18 am
