History Of Coin Encapsulation.. Parallels With Stamps?

A certified coin (first by certificate and later by TPG encapsulation) was developed as a means to trade certified coins on a sight-unseen for specific bid and ask prices. This was to emulate the stock market. It took years for dealers and collectors to accept this trading concept. You have to remember these were the pre-internet days and the only way to purchase sight-unseen was with a connection to the electronic exchange via a teleprinter (aka teletype machine). Grading of raw coins varied immensely and the only way to be sure of the grade was a visit to the seller or trust worthy seller sent the coin to you for inspection. I recommend reading a copy of The Comprehensive U.S. Silver Dollar Encyclopedia. This book was published in 1992 and it gives a perspective of the period of transition to the certified coin market.




Dealers and collectors adapted to the change. Prior to the change, it was a learned skill to grade coins. Today inexperience collectors heavily reply on TPG for the grade. Grading is somewhat becoming a lost art. Those who can accurately grade raw coins have a money making skill set. You have to remember that each coin type has specific set of grading standards.




It's the collector's choice. The TPG encapsulated coin is an established commodity (can be sold or traded relatively easily). The raw coin requires steps (non-bias grading) to make it an established commodity.




Eye-appeal and desire for possession drives the price for collectors. Dealers on the other hand want a commodity that can be later sold for profit. You can easily see this with flippers of U.S. Mint products. A TPG MS 70 or PF 70 enables it as a commodity for the coin market.

Sport cards, specialty cards, comic books, stamps (as you know), currency, autographs, etc. have also followed the path of establishing itself as commodity that can readily solicit a bid or ask price.

You are after a numismatic point of view, and that is good and relevent but
the stamp collectors will naturally express a philatelic point of view, and that has to be good and relevent for them.

You make the point that a slabbed stamp cannot be put in an album, and I agree with that. I have a few states series Australian stamps (New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, Queensland), issued before Australian Federation in 1901.
I am not expert enough to pick forgeries of the rarer stamps in these series. This is the reason why I keep these stamps in between Mylar flaps in an album. I can take a stamp out with tongs and closely examine it with my 10x loupe, normally used for coins or gemcutting.

The OP did not limit his question to US coins or the US market so thank you qxy for providing your perspective.

Much of my 8 reales collection has come from Spanish auction houses and they almost never offer encapsulated coins.

Why dont we get the Stamp Forum involved in this!

Coins are encapsulated to ensure a buyer's confidence that the grade and other information on the slab pertains to that specific coin and no other. Stamps are unique enough individually - details of the perforation teeth, centering, potential plate varieties, etc. - that a certificate with a high quality photo of the stamp accomplishes the same thing. I've never bought a slabbed stamp, but I've also heard that the slabs can trap moisture inside, damaging the stamp over time. Stamps need to breathe a little bit.

There could be some advantages to slabbing stamps. Stamp certificates attest to the authenticity of a stamp and usually call out any defects or damages. However, that doesn't mean that the stamp didn't get damaged since the last time a cert was issued, so many expensive stamps will get certed every time they're sold for that reason. If it were slabbed, theoretically that wouldn't be necessary.

Regardless, I can't see slabbed stamps taking off any time soon. Anyone who collects anything - stamps, coins, horsehoes, cars, etc - cares about the presentation. Nearly all collectors think stamps look best in an album or a stock book. An album of slabbed coins, while much bulkier than one of raw coins, at least isn't *too* foreign looking to a coin collector. Slabs make coins, what, maybe 5x thicker in an album, maybe 10x for really thin coins like gold dollars and silver three-cent pieces? At least we're talking within the same order of magnitude here. A slab would probably make a stamp 100x thicker to display. It's a bridge too far and the whole display concept is just too foreign to a stamp collector. Slabbing has its place within the coin community, and its done a good job of assuring liquidity in the coin market. Certing of stamps accomplishes the same purpose and the slabbing of stamps is simply not (as) necessary and is unattractive to the vast majority of stamp collectors.

A cross-over thread! I had to post something. My first post ever over there.

The grade is subjective. You can take it out of the slab, immediately have it graded again, and it just might come back higher or lower.


While I would like to say that I would, the more honest answer is that I would never buy an MS-68 to MS-70 coin, slabbed or not. As of now, the only slabbed coins I will ever (need to) buy are low to mid-grade key dates or other coins that benefit from authentication (think 1909-S VDB cent, 1916-D dime, Liberty Seated dollars, etc.). Yes, those slabs will be cracked and the coins placed in the appropriate Dansco.