Hey Slab Collectors! Is ACG or Blanchard considered rare?
Meltdown
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I passed on a couple St. Gaudens today - mostly because I'm broke ... but 1 was 1924 an Accu-grade slab graded MS63 and the other was 1907 in a Blanchard slab graded MS62.
I know they're fairly scarce these days but are they collected?
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Rare maybe but I know the Accugrade they want a few hundred more bucks because of the plastic. Probably why I never bought one or I think I did not buy one . Let me look at my picture file. Not sure about the other one got a pic?
I still have some ACG slabs, and would buy any I find if they are the old large 4in X 6in (or thereabouts) slabs if the price and coin were right. Although I would be very hesitant to buy gold coins in an ACG slab unless I know how to spot processed gold coins better. I've never seen any by a Blanchette company and my quick internet search turned up nothing.
AT the local coin show (when it happens again) there is an older gentleman that has some very expensive (5K to 10K) coins in ACG slabs, he has had those coins in his case for as many years as I can remember. They are coins I don't know well enough to be able to tell real vs fake and processed or not, he is a nice guy to talk to though.
Edited to add: Blanchard is/was a bullion company that would self slab their coins but didn't except coins from the public I believe.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Thanks Goldbuddy.
I had Blanchette instead of Blanchard - that's why I couldn't find anything searching.
I updated the initial question - My shop was asking $1875 each and I couldn't decide if there was any upside other than the gold inside.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
I can see how you got Blanchette. Planchet must have been on your mind.
Goldbuddy.
Funny a thread with Accugrade would come up as I was about to open a new thread. Can anyone tell me what generation and year this Accugrade Slab is?
Couldn't agree more about the grading. The Ike in this holder would just about make PF64 on a good day.
As a general rule ACG did grade on the liberal side, however as with anything there are exceptions. I crossed this WQ many years ago, I was hoping for a one point bump but didn't happen, was ACG MS64 now NGC MS64
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
I used to see ACG holders frequently at shows around Seattle... I do not recall seeing any Blanchard slabs though....I have seen them referenced here on the forum before. Cheers, RickO
I have a bunch of each, they were cheap and priced a lot lower than PCGS and NGC for the same grade. I never thought they would become collectable !!!
@android01,
Conder101 shows it as type ACG 7 in his book but does not have any date info.
I base valuations of "rare" slabs on the amount of premium my local dealers pay for such items:
Premium paid = ZERO.
Thanks!
ACG ... seem them around.
not a slab but I picked up several of these 5 pesos rolls recently, seller says they haven’t been opened since coming from Blanchard 30 years ago and after opening 2 of them the tape is a b@$! So I’m pretty confident he’s correct. I’m sure it doesn’t make them any more valuable but still pretty cool in my opinion.
Certain Accugrade and Blanchard holders have a premium (certain offices of Accugrade, decimal graded ones, samples, and a few others). Most however have no premium and often even sell for a discount to the top tpg graded slabs in the same grade.
Also, the more expensive the coin, the less likely the ACG or Blanchard holder will have a premium (most that have the big premiums tend to have sub $100 coins in them).
Blanchard is an FPG (First Party Grader) - they graded and slabbed their own coins for sale to their customers. They are still around.
ACG Iowa is one of two+ franchises operating at the same time (California being the other). Accugrade also consulted on slab design and also did turn-key operations. Finally, they would encapsulate for a fee (you sent them the labels and coins and they slabbed them in the shells).
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Wow thanks for posting those old ads!
I agree! It sure looks like ACG moved around a lot!
Both slabs would have a lot more collectibility today if both companies had been known to be consistently accurate and conservative. At that time they were around, neither was legitimate competition to the main TPG's. Who cares who came up with the first slabs. I care about who came up with the first slabs that were conservatively graded...and that was PCGS / NGC from mid-1986 to mid-1988. NGC was ridiculously conservative when they first opened up in later '87/early '88.
Deservedly rare......
So here you go, a bog-standard Blanchard. Interesting only in the relatively low value (maybe $33 retail) coin, a 1963 Franklin:
How about this one?? We now know where the Blanchard slabs spent at least some of their time afterwards...
(With the laser printed label, the PandaAmerica coin is clearly later...)
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Look for Hallmark slabs. Those are pretty rare.
If you remember back to the early days of AGC and the first slabbing going on, AGC maintained that they developed their own grading scale and it did not directly relate to the scale that other slabbing agencies were using. Thus an AGC MS65 does not directly related to PCGS 65 or ANACS 65. They also stated that their grading scale did not directly relate to Dr. Sheldons scale and that theirs was their own proprietary scale.
Did you mean ACG (Accugrade)?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
It's unfortunate that ACG was and is common. I refer to them as the Astigmatism, Cataracts, and Glaucoma grading service.
Did you mean to say: Awful Coin Graders...
Yeah-that too.