Slabs vs. Albums: Do you still look at your coins?
savitale
Posts: 1,409 ✭✭✭✭✭
Maybe I'm just having a bad day, but I'm going through a crisis of conscience with my collection. Back when I collected in albums or folders I used to enjoy looking through the pages at my coins. I had a nearly complete set of Seated Dimes in one Dansco album, and I got enjoyment out of seeing the holes slowly disappear. The entire collection was the size of a small book. Each coin was in context with the others and you could see how it all fits together. They all had the same "look", or if one didn't it was obvious that it needed to be replaced. Paging through the album was something like reading an interesting coffee-table book.
Now that my coins are in slabs, I don't look at them anymore. They are tucked away in boxes. Laying them out on a table is a lot of work and wouldn't be as fun anyway. Unless I build some sort of display case, which is probably a bad idea, there seems to be no good way to enjoy them.
How about you? Do you actually look at your coins anymore?
Comments
I still look at my coins... though some have been packed away for several years. Usually a post here will energize me to get some out and check them... which I do. Many I keep near my computer in PCGS boxes or a small drawer. Most days, I will check one or two coins for some detail. I do agree the album method is more fun when looking at a collection. Cheers, RickO
I look at my digital album of slabbed coins pretty much everyday on my iPhone or iPad, here’s what the thumbnail images look like
Mr_Spud
I have the Dansco Morgan albums, Peace and WLH LOC albums I look at frequently. Agree more fun and easier looking in albums. Still have a few slabs but not as many as years ago.
I keep them in PCGS or NCG boxes within easy reach and look at them all the time.
For coins from the mint I take them out off the boxes, put them in a 2x2 flip and store in PCGS boxes just like the slabs. If I keep them in mint boxes then I wouldn’t look at them as much...
yeah i look at my collection sometimes and see what fits and what doesn't
2003-present
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There is a reconsideration special this quarter. I plan to prepare a grading game with my wife and son this weekend. I will put stickers over the existing PCGS labels on a couple dozen coins, and PCGS Photo Grade photos of the coins on the big TV for their reference. I will ask them each to grade the coins. Then we will see if the combined results indicate a few appear higher grade than on the label, which I will then send those in for reconsideration and True Views.
Great way to get them more involved, I hope, and if any come back higher grades in a few months we will all be quite happy.
I also enjoy the digital albums as well.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
I agree that looking at my coins in albums was much more enjoyable. Now that most of my coins are in slabs I rarely look at them. Strangely, I'm buying more than ever.
I have studied my coins so much that I now have them memorized and I can just close my eyes and see them.
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
albums all the way
much more enjoyable for me to be able to look at them all together, next to each other than to have to look at each one individually in a slab. I look at the albums much more than the slabbed ones 
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I like albums much better also. These slab pages make great albums and I do look at them frequently.
Excellent collection!
My YouTube Channel
I'm a fan of Collective Coin.
Images, notes, private notation, all coins raw OR slabbed, ease of entry, VERY easy to rearrange by dragging images.
I can see no reason for any other. No, it isn't a registry. So what?
https://collectivecoin.com/
Plus the BEST record of my collection for heirs.
I spend more time looking for my coins, than looking at them.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
I almost never look at my collection as doing so might make my wife question how much I've been spending.
@liefgold beat me to it, you can get the "lighthouse" slab pages which hold 9 slabs and can fit inside of a 3 or 4 ring binder. There are a few companies that make really nice leather or synthetic bound binders. Maybe try it out for some of the pieces you miss looking at frequently.
It's all about what the people want...
The PCGS Digital Album works really well for me. It’s safe, easily shared and transported, and has enlargable pix.
It couldn’t be better.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/toned-coins/maharlika-collection-united-states-philippines/album/11210
Ricko is going to hate on those tarnished coins you own RegistryCoin. Personally they look beautiful to me. Love the Album
Willy
My coins are all in slabs and inside a briefcase. I spend a few hours each week looking over my coins and would spend more time if having to go to work or home weekend projects did not get in the way.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
As most of my collection is stored in an SDB I don't view the physical slabs that often. But I have taken or had photos done by Mark Goodman of all my coins, so I take time almost every day to look through my photo library. I also enjoy looking at my registry sets which for the most part also have the same (enlargeable) images. I do have a few albums with some low grade inexpensive coins at home, like my almost complete Library of Coins album of fine to VF Merc dimes. I actually enjoy flipping through those albums but spend more time viewing my photos than the albums.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
I like it when she looks at the nicer coins I show her, but I try not to talk too much about what they cost
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
Totally agree. Slabs are just not the same.
I loved how not only the album holes were slowly filled, but also how the albums got heavier and heavier. Hard to replace that today with boxes of plastic. Sigh...
Dave
I grew up with Whitman Folders, got my first albums through Littleton and then some from Dansco, and of course I make my own books now. I agree with the above comments, albums are way more fun. They're easier to show and share and even non-collectors can appreciate seeing a book's collection in progress.
Slabs are good for reselling, but I'd rather have a raw coin. It's so much easier to get someone else excited about coins with one they can really hold in their hands
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you.
https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.
I actually like slabs better. I like picking up a slab. Reading the label, studying the front of the coin and then flipping it over to inspect the reverse. Appreciating what I have and not worrying about the dates/mintmarks I'm missing. Even better is spreading them out and organizing them by date, mintmark, or grade. Testing my grading skills as I try to rank them by grade. Of course, it helps to have a bank with a nice safe deposit box viewing room.
Albums were always confusing for me. Yes, the dates and mintmarks are printed on the front of the page; but, then one needs to remember the place of each coin on the back of the page. Folders were worse. Often the mintmark is located on the reverse - so no easy verification of the mintmark.
I miss raw coins. Slabs are much more plastic than coin. They are a blessing to the cesspool that was a part of the hobby though, make the market much more efficient, and do have some presentation advantage. As someone who has hauled them on flights to set up at shows (like many of you), only so many slabs will fit into acceptable carryon luggage. I do miss handling raw coins more. Was considering doing raw Buffalo nickel. They were a pocket change favorite of my youth. But with more means now, Worn nic-a-date candidates can be avoided. Hopefully not all the gem quality ones are certified. Hard to relate to a durable coin minted in such huge numbers being as valuable as they are today. Times change. But I also collected Morgan dollars in the past, and there are so many of them too.
These are my 2 "albums" that I can view anytime without going to the SDB,
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
While I like looking at albums more.
Sometimes I'll study the slabs also.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
Most of my sets are in Capital set holders. Way back when, the Capital plastic sets were an upgrade to albums and cost a lot more than folders and albums. That's a while before slabs were available. I'm sure there are a bunch of ( non slab) plastic holders still out there. They do make a nice presentation.
I enjoy doing both. I have albums for easy access viewing enjoyment, and slabs for security and registry fun. Two ways to enjoy a great hobby!
Lenny
Slabs vs. Albums?.... both.
Do you still look at your coins?... frequently.
It seems like every time I look at them, I see or find something I didn't notice before.
My coins and I get great pleasure from this experience. It's very personal for me, as I'm sure it is for you. That's why I'm here, you guys are really the only ones in my life that will listen and truly understand. 😉
P.S. Well, maybe not my coins but I do! 😂 🤣
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
Both really. I have albums and some slabbed collections. I photo everything, put it on Dropbox, organize it, and can look at everything whenever I want. I don't have an image of every album coin, but I have some some page photos.
Just about everything goes in the SDB, it's cheap peace of mind. And I can enjoy and share images of 95% of my collection when and wherever.
Very nice @ChangeInHistory. I really like that Washington page!!
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
I review my inventory before a show as to pricing.
I have albums and type sets. I also have PCGS Set Registry albums. I think both worlds of coin collecting are easy to share with others for viewing.
Albums rule, slabs drool.
All of my coins are currently in slabs because that's what most of us are told to do now of days
My preference would be an album all day long!
BTW, my collection is actually in my abode because...........
I use something like this with the blank pages and large folders for my slabs, but I still have lots of raw coins in albums. Just not super high grades or expensive.
Mainly when set up at show.
I have a 20 Dansco albums in various stages of completion and a few dozen pcgs boxes. I find myself looking through the Dansco books more often than the pcgs boxes. The ease of viewing coin albums and books makes the coins so much more accessible.
I do periodically look through my boxes too. Being a Date/Mint Mark collector I have a lot of slabs that would make most slab albums too bulky or take up too much space.
I am now intrigued with the concept of getting one slab album for major varieties/ favorites so they can be viewed more frequently.
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
I still collect in albums. I still break coins out of slabs to put them in my albums.