slabs

[moneyer12 0]

our friends across the pond relentlessly slab almost every coin they come into contact with, personally i think that slabs are abhorrent.......................what's your opinion??

[Nick 325]

our friends across the pond relentlessly slab almost every coin they come into contact with, personally i think that slabs are abhorrent.......................what's your opinion??

In terms of protecting the entombed item from accidental handling damage and to a lesser extent environmental damage they do a good job.

However, in almost all other respects there can be issues for some people:

- they take up more storage space

- they make photography more difficult (by presenting two perspex surfaces parallel to the faces of the coin)

- you are relying on a third party to correctly attribute your coin (which they frequently get wrong)

- you are relying on a third party to correctly grade your coin (which they usually do +/- 2 points on the scale)

[Rob 3,000]

Do a search for slab threads on the forum. You will find that a few people like them, but the vast majority don't. Then we all get very heated preaching to the converted. It's not a monthly event, but the same arguments come round at least once or twice a year. Talking of which, we haven't discussed slabs for a few months..........

[Peckris 579]

our friends across the pond relentlessly slab almost every coin they come into contact with, personally i think that slabs are abhorrent.......................what's your opinion??

I hate em for the following reasons :

1. they artificially inflate the prices of the coins inside

2. if you have cabinets, they won't go in them any way you try

3. you can't see the surfaces in certain lights

4. hard to examine closely for minute varieties

5. can't see the edges

6. photography is a pig, scanning is impossible

The other side :

1. preserved from the elements

2. you can see both sides at once without handling

[Gollum 2]

I hate them. They are boring, they take the warmth of holding a coin in the hand away.

[Coinery 926]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, just to explore the commercial viability of selling them first hand. I'm wanting to know whether they'll fetch any extra dividends that justifies the extra outlay.

As Rob has said, a great deal has been said on the matter and, from a collection point of view, you either like them or you don't. However, I do believe, but have yet to corroborate it, that there is a UK market out there who are wanting to 'play safe' with their Internet purchases and, in the world of the web, feel safer when they can surf and read all about the TPG's and, in that 'researching' process, feel a level of security they can't find in a dodgy picture, or a 'home' grading by 'joes_stuff' on eBay, who then goes on to say 'see pictures (shoddy) and decide for yourself'!

Maybe the slab buyers can grade, but just don't want to take responsibility for it, especially when they are shelling out hundreds, which they then have to justify to themselves.

I know the TPG's grading is said to be variable, but it's slightly more consistent than Ebay's efforts and, the bottom line, you are more likely to find a buyer, should you come to sell it in the future, who will take the TPG'S efforts at grading far more seriously than Joe from Joes_stuff!

Personally, I have to say, a box of clinical plastic slabs just doesn't do it for me, though I can see the entombment appealing to those who like accumulating investments...pots of sterling, gold rings, etc., and like the idea of the coin being somewhat protected.

There you go Rob, that should get it going! ;-)

[Paulus 1,942]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, just to explore the commercial viability of selling them first hand. I'm wanting to know whether they'll fetch any extra dividends that justifies the extra outlay.

As Rob has said, a great deal has been said on the matter and, from a collection point of view, you either like them or you don't. However, I do believe, but have yet to corroborate it, that there is a UK market out there who are wanting to 'play safe' with their Internet purchases and, in the world of the web, feel safer when they can surf and read all about the TPG's and, in that 'researching' process, feel a level of security they can't find in a dodgy picture, or a 'home' grading by 'joes_stuff' on eBay, who then goes on to say 'see pictures (shoddy) and decide for yourself'!

Maybe the slab buyers can grade, but just don't want to take responsibility for it, especially when they are shelling out hundreds, which they then have to justify to themselves.

I know the TPG's grading is said to be variable, but it's slightly more consistent than Ebay's efforts and, the bottom line, you are more likely to find a buyer, should you come to sell it in the future, who will take the TPG'S efforts at grading far more seriously than Joe from Joes_stuff!

Personally, I have to say, a box of clinical plastic slabs just doesn't do it for me, though I can see the entombment appealing to those who like accumulating investments...pots of sterling, gold rings, etc., and like the idea of the coin being somewhat protected.

There you go Rob, that should get it going! ;-)

[Gollum 2]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, - SNIP )

[TomGoodheart 373]

For what I collect, they aren't all that useful. My coins have all been handled and most are toned, some more nicely than others, but touching them isn't going to make a perceptable difference.

I don't buy coins by grade, so someone else telling me a coin is VF or whatever is irrelevant. I'll make up my own mind by comparing the coin to previous examples I've seen, what I think is the condition of the average example that can be bought and, most importantly, how much I like it.

I can see that for milled copper or bronze, where you don't want finger marks ruining the lustre, some sort of protection is sensible. But there are alternatives to slabs for that. You can get nice plastic flips that sandwich a coin away from sticky fingers for a few quid.

The most worrying thng for me is if people stop making up their own minds about a coin and just go by what's on the label. I think learning about the different conditions coins turn up in, about how they commonly wear and how to recognise a particularly good example is part of the hobby. I also think that learning all the various varieties, types and so on is essential. If you just rely on a TPG to tell you your penny is BP1880af, what have you learned?

[Paulus 1,942]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, just to explore the commercial viability of selling them first hand. I'm wanting to know whether they'll fetch any extra dividends that justifies the extra outlay.

As Rob has said, a great deal has been said on the matter and, from a collection point of view, you either like them or you don't. However, I do believe, but have yet to corroborate it, that there is a UK market out there who are wanting to 'play safe' with their Internet purchases and, in the world of the web, feel safer when they can surf and read all about the TPG's and, in that 'researching' process, feel a level of security they can't find in a dodgy picture, or a 'home' grading by 'joes_stuff' on eBay, who then goes on to say 'see pictures (shoddy) and decide for yourself'!

Maybe the slab buyers can grade, but just don't want to take responsibility for it, especially when they are shelling out hundreds, which they then have to justify to themselves.

I know the TPG's grading is said to be variable, but it's slightly more consistent than Ebay's efforts and, the bottom line, you are more likely to find a buyer, should you come to sell it in the future, who will take the TPG'S efforts at grading far more seriously than Joe from Joes_stuff!

Personally, I have to say, a box of clinical plastic slabs just doesn't do it for me, though I can see the entombment appealing to those who like accumulating investments...pots of sterling, gold rings, etc., and like the idea of the coin being somewhat protected.

There you go Rob, that should get it going! ;-)

Being too new to this site to have taken part in the previous heated discussions, and holding back a bit, I would like to say that as a collector I hate them with a passion, for many if not all the reasons eloquently articulated by others. The first one I bought that was slabbed was immediately broken out of it (carefully I might add, with the aid of a hammer and chisel).

But I can see the point for sellers, investors and dealers, if their integrity survives ...

[Peckris 579]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, just to explore the commercial viability of selling them first hand. I'm wanting to know whether they'll fetch any extra dividends that justifies the extra outlay.

As Rob has said, a great deal has been said on the matter and, from a collection point of view, you either like them or you don't. However, I do believe, but have yet to corroborate it, that there is a UK market out there who are wanting to 'play safe' with their Internet purchases and, in the world of the web, feel safer when they can surf and read all about the TPG's and, in that 'researching' process, feel a level of security they can't find in a dodgy picture, or a 'home' grading by 'joes_stuff' on eBay, who then goes on to say 'see pictures (shoddy) and decide for yourself'!

Maybe the slab buyers can grade, but just don't want to take responsibility for it, especially when they are shelling out hundreds, which they then have to justify to themselves.

I know the TPG's grading is said to be variable, but it's slightly more consistent than Ebay's efforts and, the bottom line, you are more likely to find a buyer, should you come to sell it in the future, who will take the TPG'S efforts at grading far more seriously than Joe from Joes_stuff!

Personally, I have to say, a box of clinical plastic slabs just doesn't do it for me, though I can see the entombment appealing to those who like accumulating investments...pots of sterling, gold rings, etc., and like the idea of the coin being somewhat protected.

There you go Rob, that should get it going! ;-)

Being too new to this site to have taken part in the previous heated discussions, and holding back a bit, I would like to say that as a collector I hate them with a passion, for many if not all the reasons eloquently articulated by others. The first one I bought that was slabbed was immediately broken out of it (carefully I might add, with the aid of a hammer and chisel).

But I can see the point for sellers, investors and dealers, if their integrity survives ...

I'm old enough to remember in the late 60s, coins were offered sealed into slabs of perspex (which is probably where the term "slab" originates from, as the modern type you wouldn't describe as a slab otherwise - it's more of a sealed case or holder). It was a brief fad that burned itself out pretty quick. One thing that they didn't come with, was a TPG 'authenticate and grade' service, which may have helped the early demise. What goes around comes around.

[Coinery 926]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, - SNIP )

Big smile, Gollum, you can certainly turn on the emicons :-)

[moneyer12 0]

all my coins are stored in lindner trays with acid neutral paper rounds with the info on them, when i handle my coins i always wear my white cotton gloves, regardless if it is a sovereign or a decimal penny............

[Gollum 2]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, - SNIP )

Big smile, Gollum, you can certainly turn on the emicons :-)

Your lucky, I have some adult ones too ! I thought it best not to post them.

Edited January 31, 2012 by Gollum

[Coinery 926]

For what I collect, they aren't all that useful. My coins have all been handled and most are toned, some more nicely than others, but touching them isn't going to make a perceptable difference.

I don't buy coins by grade, so someone else telling me a coin is VF or whatever is irrelevant. I'll make up my own mind by comparing the coin to previous examples I've seen, what I think is the condition of the average example that can be bought and, most importantly, how much I like it.

I can see that for milled copper or bronze, where you don't want finger marks ruining the lustre, some sort of protection is sensible. But there are alternatives to slabs for that. You can get nice plastic flips that sandwich a coin away from sticky fingers for a few quid.

The most worrying thng for me is if people stop making up their own minds about a coin and just go by what's on the label. I think learning about the different conditions coins turn up in, about how they commonly wear and how to recognise a particularly good example is part of the hobby. I also think that learning all the various varieties, types and so on is essential. If you just rely on a TPG to tell you your penny is BP1880af, what have you learned?

I couldn't agree more! What you have said captures the whole spirit of it all.

When I was 18 I bought an old Jaguar 420G for pennies and stripped the whole thing to pieces in my parents' back garden...lovingly dealing with every aspect of the rebuild was the thing that made that car special. I could afford one now, that is far better condition, and maybe even concours, but I wouldn't have anything like the same love and interest in owning something that has been grafted on by someone else...but many are the flashy classical car owners who go out and buy the best and don't even know what waxoyl is! They're classic car equivalents of the slab collectors, but there is no denying they are out there!

Hanging around forums like this, making a few mistakes, battling out the details of a grade, is what makes it so fascinating for me!

[Coinery 926]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, just to explore the commercial viability of selling them first hand. I'm wanting to know whether they'll fetch any extra dividends that justifies the extra outlay.

As Rob has said, a great deal has been said on the matter and, from a collection point of view, you either like them or you don't. However, I do believe, but have yet to corroborate it, that there is a UK market out there who are wanting to 'play safe' with their Internet purchases and, in the world of the web, feel safer when they can surf and read all about the TPG's and, in that 'researching' process, feel a level of security they can't find in a dodgy picture, or a 'home' grading by 'joes_stuff' on eBay, who then goes on to say 'see pictures (shoddy) and decide for yourself'!

Maybe the slab buyers can grade, but just don't want to take responsibility for it, especially when they are shelling out hundreds, which they then have to justify to themselves.

I know the TPG's grading is said to be variable, but it's slightly more consistent than Ebay's efforts and, the bottom line, you are more likely to find a buyer, should you come to sell it in the future, who will take the TPG'S efforts at grading far more seriously than Joe from Joes_stuff!

Personally, I have to say, a box of clinical plastic slabs just doesn't do it for me, though I can see the entombment appealing to those who like accumulating investments...pots of sterling, gold rings, etc., and like the idea of the coin being somewhat protected.

There you go Rob, that should get it going! ;-)

Being too new to this site to have taken part in the previous heated discussions, and holding back a bit, I would like to say that as a collector I hate them with a passion, for many if not all the reasons eloquently articulated by others. The first one I bought that was slabbed was immediately broken out of it (carefully I might add, with the aid of a hammer and chisel).

But I can see the point for sellers, investors and dealers, if their integrity survives ...

These are being slabbed as an experiment to measure sales, I truly hope to see them out of the slabs and in proper cared-for collections in the future. There are no slabs in my own private collection.

I saw a liz halfpenny in a slab on eBay a while back, looked like something you could pick up in ikea, horrible!

[Paulus 1,942]

For what I collect, they aren't all that useful. My coins have all been handled and most are toned, some more nicely than others, but touching them isn't going to make a perceptable difference.

I don't buy coins by grade, so someone else telling me a coin is VF or whatever is irrelevant. I'll make up my own mind by comparing the coin to previous examples I've seen, what I think is the condition of the average example that can be bought and, most importantly, how much I like it.

I can see that for milled copper or bronze, where you don't want finger marks ruining the lustre, some sort of protection is sensible. But there are alternatives to slabs for that. You can get nice plastic flips that sandwich a coin away from sticky fingers for a few quid.

The most worrying thng for me is if people stop making up their own minds about a coin and just go by what's on the label. I think learning about the different conditions coins turn up in, about how they commonly wear and how to recognise a particularly good example is part of the hobby. I also think that learning all the various varieties, types and so on is essential. If you just rely on a TPG to tell you your penny is BP1880af, what have you learned?

I couldn't agree more! What you have said captures the whole spirit of it all.

When I was 18 I bought an old Jaguar 420G for pennies and stripped the whole thing to pieces in my parents' back garden...lovingly dealing with every aspect of the rebuild was the thing that made that car special. I could afford one now, that is far better condition, and maybe even concours, but I wouldn't have anything like the same love and interest in owning something that has been grafted on by someone else...but many are the flashy classical car owners who go out and buy the best and don't even know what waxoyl is! They're classic car equivalents of the slab collectors, but there is no denying they are out there!

Hanging around forums like this, making a few mistakes, battling out the details of a grade, is what makes it so fascinating for me!

Totally with you on that one Coinery, same goes for Proof coins for me too ...

[bagerap 706]

Coins for collectors, slabs for investors. But I bet we get more pleasure from ours.

[Gollum 2]

sounds a bit like the difference between a wife and a girlfriend !.

[Rob 3,000]

I have to confess I sent off 15 coins for slabbing, just to explore the commercial viability of selling them first hand. I'm wanting to know whether they'll fetch any extra dividends that justifies the extra outlay.

As Rob has said, a great deal has been said on the matter and, from a collection point of view, you either like them or you don't. However, I do believe, but have yet to corroborate it, that there is a UK market out there who are wanting to 'play safe' with their Internet purchases and, in the world of the web, feel safer when they can surf and read all about the TPG's and, in that 'researching' process, feel a level of security they can't find in a dodgy picture, or a 'home' grading by 'joes_stuff' on eBay, who then goes on to say 'see pictures (shoddy) and decide for yourself'!

Maybe the slab buyers can grade, but just don't want to take responsibility for it, especially when they are shelling out hundreds, which they then have to justify to themselves.

I know the TPG's grading is said to be variable, but it's slightly more consistent than Ebay's efforts and, the bottom line, you are more likely to find a buyer, should you come to sell it in the future, who will take the TPG'S efforts at grading far more seriously than Joe from Joes_stuff!

Personally, I have to say, a box of clinical plastic slabs just doesn't do it for me, though I can see the entombment appealing to those who like accumulating investments...pots of sterling, gold rings, etc., and like the idea of the coin being somewhat protected.

There you go Rob, that should get it going! ;-)

Being too new to this site to have taken part in the previous heated discussions, and holding back a bit, I would like to say that as a collector I hate them with a passion, for many if not all the reasons eloquently articulated by others. The first one I bought that was slabbed was immediately broken out of it (carefully I might add, with the aid of a hammer and chisel).

But I can see the point for sellers, investors and dealers, if their integrity survives ...

From a collecting point of view, a slab is just to bulky. You get say 20 or 30 coins in a slab box. That's a lot of boxes for a typical collection. Scott would probably need three figures if his were in slabs! Maybe if you had only the finest known examples you would toy with the idea of slabs based on the preservation argument, but for many people in the US in particular, slabs are a way to play the registry set game. Why anyone would want to submit, and then frequently resubmit a coin in the hope its attributed grade would be increased at the second attempt in a vain attempt to be given the highest average score of third party opinions on a group of coins' grades, and pay someone handsomely for the privilege is beyond me. Selling in the States means almost invariably higher prices for a coin in plastic because many people buy the label and not the coin. It has made picking up decent examples very difficult in this country. A nice coin sells for £100 here, but makes £200 if in a 65 or higher slab in the US. The number on the label often sets the price. A year ago a 1901 penny made $600 simply because it was the only one graded at 65RD. My 1901 penny cost me £2.21 including postage about 8 years ago. Prices have gone up, but you can still get a nice red unc for less than £50 as the date is common. That is a mentality I have a problem with.

Investors wouldn't have a problem with slabs because all they want is to make a profit.

Dealers don't care if a coin is in a slab or not. If it comes in one, you sell it in the same condition and let the buyer crack it out if they want.

One of the great benefits of slabbing is that the US TPGs in particular are crap at identifying the type, year, variety etc. Here the collector can use their knowledge to recognise a good bargain.

[moneyer12 0]

i have over 11,000 coins so to slab them all would cost me a fortune, and take the fun out of collecting. i have been collecting for 48 years and over that time i have become proficient in grading my coins, why should i pay someone to do it for me who probably hasn't got the same experience as i have.

[Colin G. 147]

I have that feeling of deja vu!!

I always find myself a bit more friendly towards slabbing (and in isolation ), but only for personal reasons. I would and will continue to get some of my coins slabbed, but it is only the select few.

I do not buy coins based on their slabbed grade, and would still make my own decision on a coins grade/appearance. I take my own suitable scans/photos of any coins I send off, so there is no need for further examination once encapsulated. I do not do it with the intention of re-selling, hell I even re-label them externally myself!! but I do see some positive arguments. I have never been a fan of coin cabinets, just a personal view, and I do like to handle my coins regularly and the encasement means I can do that to a top quality coin at the drop of a hat without fear. I am a naturally clumsy person, and on odd occasions a surround of plastic can be a good thing!!

I would not advocate this approach for my normal collection coins, and it would not make financial sense in a majority of cases, and therefore I only slab by selection. The statement that slabs are for investors is just not true, I can see why these comments are made, but it is not the only reason!!

The positives for me personally are:

1. I do actually like the storage approach, it is growing on me!!

2. Automatic insurance valuation (which I should think would be harder for the insurance companies to challenge)

3. Coin protection

4. It may help my nearest and dearest if the unexpected were to occur and the collection needs to be be dispersed (although there are other ways of dealing with this).

The negatives for me personally are:

1. The cost involved (I can't help but think that those funds could be spent on coins)

People could trawl through my past posts and you will see I used to liberate coins from slabs, and my views on them have changed over the last few years.

In terms of re-selling, I don't think it is that beneficial at the moment, but who knows how these things will be perceived in future years.

[Gollum 2]

I think if I was to ever to be pushed to slabbing it would only ever be those ultra rare ( 1 or 5 left ) endangered coins that would be lost to the world through damage or erosion.

[numismatist 2]

Slabs are to me an hated word. Unless your Coins are far better than EF or Proofs,

very little harm will be done by handling them. After all many may have been handled

of hundreds of years and have not suffered much and in fact may have built up a

superb tone by being handled now and again. Coins in slabs are so impersonable and

detached from reality that I feel we would be just as well off collecting photographs

of Coins, that way we can all own the very best that exists and can in fact see them

in better detail than we can ever do in a slab. I say smash the slabs !!

[Colin G. 147]

Slabs are to me an hated word. Unless your Coins are far better than EF or Proofs,

very little harm will be done by handling them. After all many may have been handled

of hundreds of years and have not suffered much and in fact may have built up a

superb tone by being handled now and again. Coins in slabs are so impersonable and

detached from reality that I feel we would be just as well off collecting photographs

of Coins, that way we can all own the very best that exists and can in fact see them

in better detail than we can ever do in a slab. I say smash the slabs !!

I agree in terms of average coins, and that is why I would only consider it for higher grade bronze/copper & proofs, but playing devil's advocate what is the difference between a slab and a cardboard flip, in terms of losing physical connection with a coin.

I would not even entertain encasing a hammered farthing, it would get lost in terms of perspective against the chunk of plastic, and they are at a substantially less risk from mishandling.

This is why these posts will always end up in a range of personal views, how some people like capsules others detest them, many would only choose coin cabinets, I actually do not like them and the way they present a collection. At the end of the day it is "my" collection and whilst the coins are in my posession, I will choose which ever storage method works for me.