Sealed vs unsealed slabs discussion

asheland

In the other thread which was recently closed I was going to add pictures to clarify some visual aspects to slabs being properly sealed.
@LanceNewmanOCC I appreciate the questions, you mentioned bubbles that can be seen, I just photographed two different slabs, I believe these are the bubbles you mention:
New slab

The white line you see in the pictures, I assume those are the bubbles you mention, @lkeigwin when you put the halves together and view from this angle, do you see that also?

Here is an OGH that I photographed, the bubbles are much more visible:


I also look at the sides of the older slabs looking for these, which I call “water spots” I assume that’s also where it’s sonically sealed?

Any discussion and pictures welcome. This is something I’ve wondered about for a while and the other thread inspired me to investigate deeper.

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LanceNewmanOCC

a good thread and i'll comment but i decided to go ahead and get those pup images up and running for my thread for the 59-d mule AND i have a plate of food here starting to get cold!

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LanceNewmanOCC

@asheland said:

ok. while you have expanded on my original intent, when you have the slabs in a slab box, for someone wanting to just plow through their slabs real quick, how obvious is the sonic pups from the top?

we can see the plastic from ikgwin's images is VERY clear by comparison and rightly so since the plastic is still pristine, i'm guessing it is fairly obvious but i still have to presume at this point.

perhaps a person holding a pcgs box full of slabs can just tilt the box up/down side/side w/o having to take the items out depending on lighting.

while the slabs are reported to feel fairly secure w/o being sealed, i doubt it would be a far stretch to imagine a myriad of situations whereas a coin could end up coming out, including rattling around in boxes to shows/shops or back n forth to SDB/home etc.

the fact these go back so many years is somewhat concerning BUT since we haven't had reports and i know people are handling their coins/traveling/dropping etc and we really haven't had reports, we'll hope these are random isolated anomalies.

tbh, if i had one with a coin not too expensive, i'd probably just keep it for a conversational piece. ya never know what kind of good could come from it.

now i also have to believe the "seam" where the front/back pieces come together has to be obvious judging by how smooth the sides of sealed slabs are,

ok. i've rattled on about that enough. (no pun intended)

read through the OP again. good commentary and pics!

in the pic of the gold coin, the bottom left corner is REALLY obvious for the water/bubble effect.

lilolme

@asheland

On your photos and bubbles. First the OGH, here is the picture I took from the previous thread. It might be hard to see but the old holders have a 'prong' on one piece/part (the back) and a 'groove' on the other (the front). The bubbles that you are seeing I believe is where the plastic 'melted' together between the two pieces at the 'prong' and 'groove'.
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I tried to take a better picture of the other end and then the blow up. Maybe a little clearer.
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On the newer slabs there is no 'prong' and 'groove'. But it looks like the sonic seal is working similarly. However, it appears to be mostly in the corner where the front and back pieces come together (and sometimes maybe at the sides). But I found one where the gap between them was much more but still can see plastic bridge between them. Again I believe the bubbles are where the plastic pieces melted together. Here are a few blown up.

Edit - I am wondering if the one with the larger gap (3rd one down) is an older back with the 'prong' as that plastic bridge that I mentioned kind of looks like it could be. Unfortunately I put the pieces back in the bag. Might try to dig it out later if I get interested.
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ricko

All my slabs are sealed as far as I know. Never actually examined them for that possibility. However, I have handled most of my slabs frequently, and no issues. Even dropped a few. Cheers, RickO

asheland

@lilolme said:
@asheland

On your photos and bubbles. First the OGH, here is the picture I took from the previous thread. It might be hard to see but the old holders have a 'prong' on one piece/part (the back) and a 'groove' on the other (the front). The bubbles that you are seeing I believe is where the plastic 'melted' together between the two pieces at the 'prong' and 'groove'.
.

.
I tried to take a better picture of the other end and then the blow up. Maybe a little clearer.
.

.

.
.
On the newer slabs there is no 'prong' and 'groove'. But it looks like the sonic seal is working similarly. However, it appears to be mostly in the corner where the front and back pieces come together (and sometimes maybe at the sides). But I found one where the gap between them was much more but still can see plastic bridge between them. Again I believe the bubbles are where the plastic pieces melted together. Here are a few blown up.

Edit - I am wondering if the one with the larger gap (3rd one down) is an older back with the 'prong' as that plastic bridge that I mentioned kind of looks like it could be. Unfortunately I put the pieces back in the bag. Might try to dig it out later if I get interested.
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EXCELLENT pictures! Thanks for posting the information!

asheland

@LanceNewmanOCC said:

@asheland said:

ok. while you have expanded on my original intent, when you have the slabs in a slab box, for someone wanting to just plow through their slabs real quick, how obvious is the sonic pups from the top?

we can see the plastic from ikgwin's images is VERY clear by comparison and rightly so since the plastic is still pristine, i'm guessing it is fairly obvious but i still have to presume at this point.

perhaps a person holding a pcgs box full of slabs can just tilt the box up/down side/side w/o having to take the items out depending on lighting.

while the slabs are reported to feel fairly secure w/o being sealed, i doubt it would be a far stretch to imagine a myriad of situations whereas a coin could end up coming out, including rattling around in boxes to shows/shops or back n forth to SDB/home etc.

the fact these go back so many years is somewhat concerning BUT since we haven't had reports and i know people are handling their coins/traveling/dropping etc and we really haven't had reports, we'll hope these are random isolated anomalies.

tbh, if i had one with a coin not too expensive, i'd probably just keep it for a conversational piece. ya never know what kind of good could come from it.

now i also have to believe the "seam" where the front/back pieces come together has to be obvious judging by how smooth the sides of sealed slabs are,

ok. i've rattled on about that enough. (no pun intended)

read through the OP again. good commentary and pics!

in the pic of the gold coin, the bottom left corner is REALLY obvious for the water/bubble effect.

Excellent points made! Thanks.

asheland

@unimpossible said:

Unsealed example, circa 2022.

Thank you for posting that! Is it possible to close them together and mimic my shots above under good light? I’d love to see how it looks having not been sonically sealed. 👍

asheland

@lilolme one thing I noticed early on is that the older slabs, the plastic is very purple, the newer slabs are crystal clear.

lilolme

@asheland said:
@lilolme one thing I noticed early on is that the older slabs, the plastic is very purple, the newer slabs are crystal clear.

Ahh... yes and that would help identify if that one was an older back side holder. Probably not.
I am thinking later when I kick back with a glass I might try to put some sand paper to one of these to see if it will clean up and maybe reveal the sonic weld area better. I have sand paper form grit 60 to 12000, so should be enough to smooth out the cross-section. Then watch it show nothing special. Okay might have to put some music on with it and then at least I got that out of it.

asheland

@lilolme said:

@asheland said:
@lilolme one thing I noticed early on is that the older slabs, the plastic is very purple, the newer slabs are crystal clear.

Ahh... yes and that would help identify if that one was an older back side holder. Probably not.
I am thinking later when I kick back with a glass I might try to put some sand paper to one of these to see if it will clean up and maybe reveal the sonic weld area better. I have sand paper form grit 60 to 12000, so should be enough to smooth out the cross-section. Then watch it show nothing special. Okay might have to put some music on with it and then at least I got that out of it.

12,000 grit sandpaper!? That would make it shine like a mirror!
I didn’t know they made sandpaper that fine.

lilolme

@asheland said:

@lilolme said:

@asheland said:
@lilolme one thing I noticed early on is that the older slabs, the plastic is very purple, the newer slabs are crystal clear.

Ahh... yes and that would help identify if that one was an older back side holder. Probably not.
I am thinking later when I kick back with a glass I might try to put some sand paper to one of these to see if it will clean up and maybe reveal the sonic weld area better. I have sand paper form grit 60 to 12000, so should be enough to smooth out the cross-section. Then watch it show nothing special. Okay might have to put some music on with it and then at least I got that out of it.

12,000 grit sandpaper!? That would make it shine like a mirror!
I didn’t know they made sandpaper that fine.

Ha ha... Those typos are great. Should I leave it there for fun or fix it?
It is of course 1200.

asheland

Ah! still, 1200 is extremely fine. I thought 600 was the finest they made.

lilolme

Here it is all ready to go. Just need to get inspired. When? Don't know.

Broadstruck

My inner nerd although deeply rooted has surfaced to check out this thread and would like to thank you all for posting these slab edge extrusion pics!

lilolme

Okay got them smoothed out a little. Now I can see a smaller 'prong' and 'groove' on n the new slabs and this is where the sonic sealing / weld is happening. Not as large as the older ones. Also the last photo I tried to show the side 'bubble' line and how it lines up with the 'prong' and 'groove'.

First two from the older holder.
Has the larger 'prong' and 'groove'. You can see how the back slab piece protrudes past the front slab piece on the side.
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And these are from newer holder.
You can see how the side on the front slab piece now extends past the back slab piece. So the back slab piece is nested inside the front slab piece.
The first one is the only one I did both ends so I took a picture of the whole slab section and then each end.
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Trying to show the line on the side of the slab and how it lines up with the 'prong' and 'groove'.

asheland

@lilolme said:
Okay got them smoothed out a little. Now I can see a smaller 'prong' and 'groove' on n the new slabs and this is where the sonic sealing / weld is happening. Not as large as the older ones. Also the last photo I tried to show the side 'bubble' line and how it lines up with the 'prong' and 'groove'.

First two from the older holder.
Has the larger 'prong' and 'groove'. You can see how the back slab piece protrudes past the front slab piece on the side.
.

.

.
.
And these are from newer holder.
You can see how the side on the front slab piece now extends past the back slab piece. So the back slab piece is nested inside the front slab piece.
The first one is the only one I did both ends so I took a picture of the whole slab section and then each end.
.

.

.

.

.

.
Trying to show the line on the side of the slab and how it lines up with the 'prong' and 'groove'.

Thanks for posting that! Indeed sanded, it shows clearly how it all works. 👍