SAMPLE

mach19

When a PCGS Coin has SAMPLE on a graded coin...... what does that refer to ?

Thank you in advance

MsMorrisine

pcgs will slab coins as free samples for various promotion purposes, like at coin shows

dealers and other special customers can pay for sample slabs to be made for similar reasons

the special crowd can also get generic grade(like simply "BU") on a label for promotional purposes. these will likely have cert numbers that work

lilolme

Here is one website with some information on some of them (not the newer ones).

PCGS types
https://www.sampleslabs.com/pcgs.html

Home Page with some information.
https://www.sampleslabs.com/index.php

UpGrayedd

As MsMorrisine stated it is typically a promotional item for the TPG, dealers, coin shows, etc., and people do collect them. https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1059482/rare-plastic-for-the-weekend-any-service-samples-what-have-you-got/p1