Thoughts On Busting Out Slabbed Coins For Filling Album Pages

I haven't cracked any out yet, but plan to as I hopefully complete my Dansco Type Set. There are some I just don't want to take the chance buying raw, so I'd have no problems cracking them out. They also wouldn't be uncirculated, so I wouldn't really have to worry about that.

i keep my slabbed dollars in a separate binder and put a common au or bu with the reverse showing in the hole to designate the hole is filled by a certified coin.

OK, so I'm going to take the minority position.

My collection started out just building a Type Set. I wanted the peace of mind of knowing the coins were authentic AND were likely the grade I was buying, so starting in the mid to late 1980's, I bought coins graded by the major TPG's. Before that I bought coins with the ANACS certificates.

But just like everyone above, I cracked them out. I liked the large black Capital Plastics holder, as it made for a handsome display, easy to show my friends and relatives. I also kept the Certs.

Here's what happened with me:

1. I started upgrading my set. When I went to sell the dupes, dealers and other collectors would not pay a fair wholesale price for the coin, sometimes saying it was a lower grade.
2. I then sent the dupes to one of the major TPG's for grading, providing them the original Certs. They could care less. A couple of coins graded higher, some stayed the same, and some graded lower!

My conclusions:

1. Someday, you or your heirs will sell your coins, whether for upgrading, or just outright disposition. If it's your heirs selling your collection, you've done them a great financial disservice by cracking out the coins. Had they remained in the slabs, they would have a much greater chance of receiving "fair value" when sold by you or your heirs.
2. Even if you or your heirs send them back in for grading, your results will likely be like mine above, but now an extra expense is incurred in shipping and grading fees!
3. Yes, we all love holding these historic treasures in our hands. But have you ever dropped a coin? I sure have!
4. Keeping the coins in their slabs not only provides the benefits I mentioned above, but also helps to a degree of avoiding or minimizing environmental damage, such as copper coins oxidizing to get darker.

Comments by others of saving the Certs of the cracked out coins sounded in the prior replies like that's the perfect answer. In my experience, those saved Certs did absolutely nothing.

I say all of the above for the only purpose of trying to have some of you not repeat the mistakes I made.

Steve

I agree with you in part, @Winesteven. Certainly, highly valuable coins probably should stay in their slab for protection and ease of resale.
However, many modern slabbed coins can be bought for $25 or less. No shame in cracking these out. It is not like these $25 coins will become $250 coins in the near future.

You could go the other way... on ebay you can buy little plastic tokens to put in the holes of your album where the coin is certified.

Here's my 7070 Dansco.

But there are no coins, just plastic tokens.

Oh, did I forget to give you the three slab boxes too?

To each their own, and I truly mean that, but I am not collecting coins to make my heirs rich.

I hope they appreciate the sentimental value. But if they get sold, I hope they reach a good home for a decent price.

I'm all for busting coins out of slabs for albums