It has an unusual history for a sample slab. As near as we can tell, an NGC sales rep would periodically have these made up, reusing the cert# (that cert# was also used for other samples). I've been monitoring them for seven years ever since a large # appeared for sale through a NJ coin dealer, apparently from "Joe's" closet.
I've documented as many as 11 reuses of the cert#. Individual line#s go up to 25. A total of 142 pieces out of a probable population of around 220 brown and 25+/- green label.
Quote:We sample collectors know that we like to see older coins in sample slabs, even though the graders usually prefer to use shiny modern coins to show off their holders. Every now and then we are fortunate enough to see a classic US coin in a sample slab. These can also make some of the best cherrypicking opportunities, as this holder might sell for the value of the $2 coin instead of its value as a sample.
I categorized this one as label 4 (brown with bar code), but some, such as mine on the top of the next page, are clearly green. The pictured slab is not a greenish grey or greenish brown, but a light mint green. It appears to be a throwback to the type 1 and 2 green labels but with the bar code from a type 4. In contrast, the NGC
Liberty nickel pictured on the bottom of the next page has a grey-brown label. I am not clear enough on the colors of past sales to classify the green and brown labels as separate types.
Beginning in June 2015, SG Rare Coins of Hawthorne, NJ began selling a hoard of these samples, all in no-reserve
ebay auctions. Some collectors took the abundance of dates as an opportunity to build date sets, and a few coins were bid up to as much as $89. In general, however, flooding the market dropped prices roughly in half compared to the $70 listed in the first edition of this catalog, with some going for as little as $14. Burton Strauss did extensive research on the SG Hoard, including meeting with the seller. When this was written May 2016, SG had sold about 55 of this type. Sales are ongoing and the story is not yet over.
Quote:After the "S&G Hoard, from 'Joe'" was sold in 2016-2018, sales quieted down to 7 or 8 a year through 2020. Only one sale was observed in 2021. Then two new, green label samples showed up on
ebay in January 2022, both with the 199998-001 cert#. The population estimates are now around 26-30 Green label sample and 140-220 of the brown label. 1898 and 1902 remain the rarest with just one known of each. 1910 is the most common with 21 known followed by 20 1907s.
Posted 08/20/2023 03:04 am
All the value is the slab not the coin.
