Cracking A Slab To Fill The Hole, What Are Your Opinions Or Criteria?

I would go for it. Buy the coin, not the slab!

As long as there is a hole in your album, your album is not complete.
My 2¢

A fact to keep in mind.

The very existence of the re-slabbing game tells you the label is what counts on a slab, and the label is where the market value actually is.

People forget grades are not an actual grade of the coin b/c there is no scientific standard or verifiable process used. Labels show the subjective opinion of the graders who saw it on that specific day they held the coin. Subjectivity also conveniently keeps the coin companies unaccountable, and the re-slabbing fees keep coming in. Businesses go where the money can be made.

If market value being hurt is your concern, then consider if you have a coin that you believe to be over-graded in a slab, what people will pay for it (note I did not say actual value) is more NOW than if it was cracked out and re-submitted and got a lower grade.

Other than this...all a slab really means is the coin is not counterfeit, and that someone paid a company for a changeable opinion. So cracking out a coin is not really a big deal if it is not something that would bring a high price when sold.

When I crack a coin from a slab to fill a hole I like to keep the labels in an envelope with the album.

Many a slab have been cracked for my albums but a few remain in the slab. As a rule a classic coin graded ms 65 or higher will hold a better resale advantage over a raw coin even with a former slab's printed description. I live with the two holes in my commemorative set due to this personal restriction.

Wow! Some great replies. Not sure where to start.
Collection runs from 1959-2011. Near 80% MS, none less than AU. Always upgrading.
Slab really means nothing to me. I want that good lookin' coin in that hole. There are no slabbed coins or mint sets that I have acquired that I have not busted open.
I do, however, attach the original label on the reverse side of the coin in the album. Same number,same coin Just reference the archive. So.ething like this.



Nice conversation here.
I have a 1981 S T2 PR 68 UC inbound for $59 bucks. OK by me. In the hole.

Depends what your goals are. If you are first and foremost a collector rather than someone looking for investment, or someone like Dearborn on this forum who has bought high quality Dansco albums rather than cheap folders and has goals of filling them, or those like Jbuck that mentioned they collect and dont sell, then it makes great sense to go ahead and crack out coins to fill your album...

There are a few other reasons I can think of as well. The best quote I ever read on this on forums which jumped out at me since I loved collecting cents first as a kid...quote "I bought one (a 1909-s vdb Lincoln Cent) today (my second one), cracked it out of the slab and filled that hole in my little blue Whitman folder, something that I have been wanting to do for 57 years! A childhood dream come true..."

Now if you are more into the value/investment/selling aspect of coin buying and selling, then you need to consider that removing coins from slabs can potentially hurt their value when selling, and a small possibility to reduce its condition over time depending on the quality of the album, further exposure to the environment etc similar to what muddler mentioned. However if you get anxiety from holes then that would have to go alongside possibly using 2x2s, 3 ring binders and coin pages rather than albums.There really is no right/wrong answer.