Would you collect different coins if there were no slabs?

MrEureka

Just curious.

09sVDB

probably not different coins but much more wary of originality and fakes.

mbbiker

no, my collection would be the same, i only have about 20-30 slabs so if their were no slabs i wouldn't miss them.

Baley

no, I'd collect the same old coins I do now: primarily 18th and 19th century type, the kind of coins I already crack out of their slabs and put in my album.

however, without slabs I would not spend more than a couple of hundred based just on a picture, would need to see the piece in person (I dislike returning things)

and without the slabs, gaga grade moderns are right out of the question, because the primary purpose of the slab for those, IMO, is to protect the coin and keep it that prestine.

my icon coin is probably worth more if "bust"ed out of it's VF25 holder

DHeath

Yes. I'd collect local coins.

RKKay

I agree with VDB.

clackamas

No

dddangerousdan

I would have the same coins. Just a lot more of them because they would cost less.

DAN

Crashtestfixer

na......... plastic is just something that got in the way of the real thing, "what lies beneath". what I enjoyed in the 60s still pervails.
yet plastic influences my resale possibilites without a lot of hagglin
avb

Blackhawk

At this point I don't think that it would matter because I have some confidence in my grading skills with regard to the coins I collect. However, this came with a price because I started buying raw coins and believed the sellers graded fairly.

If I had to start over, I would buy coins graded by one of the better grading services to start with until I learned what was what. It would have saved me some money had I done this in the first place.

CLASSICS

no, i was collecting coins long before pcgs, ngc, and all the others.......if you collect coins....whatever you do, learn to grade your own coins. i once heard someone say, buy the book before you buy any coins. those words were true back then, and they are still true today, and will be true long after we are all gone....ask yourself this, if all the grading companies deceide to close up shop, would you now how to grade your coins? if you answered no, better go buy the book.

nwcs

If there were no slabs, I never would have returned to coin collecting as an adult.

coppercoins

Not me, I don't collect slabs in the first place. I don't buy coins in them either.

RotatedRainbows

Since I collect the same coins today that I did before slabs I would have to say no.

Merc

I would buy the same coins, but it would be much harder. I would only buy coins I could inspect first. The grading companies allow me to buy a coin on-line based on their grade opinion and a picture. I still have to return a few. Without the grade opinion of the grading services, I would have to return so much overgraded junk.

MrEureka

Funny thing is, I find that slabs influenced my collecting habits. Before slabs, I used to really enjoy being able to appreciate quality and perfection in ways that few others could. I used to enjoy playing show and tell with other people who could see the same things. It was like a secret society. Somehow, I think slabs sent me in the other direction. Now that everyone knows a 68 when they see it - anyone can read a slab insert - I find myself collecting lots of things that don't exist better than XF. I find the whole thing odd and intriguing. But that's just me.

ROBBItheOKIE

nope.

Fairlaneman

Collected Mercs before slabs and collect the same thing now both in slabs and raw. Will admit slabs got me back into collecting again around 1997 or 98.

Ken

FatMan

Yes. I am a product of the slab generation. Most of my coins are in slabs by choice. In fact, other than American Eagles I do not own a coin worth more than $50 that is not in a PCGS,NGC, or ANACS slab. If the slabs did not exist I never would have become so actively involved in collecting. As a rookie you are going to get screwed 90% of the time you purchase raw. Yes, I know the same coin costs more in a slab but I am willing to pay the premium to "insure" the coins authenticity and grade give or take a point. I now have the knowledge to move away from slab dependency, but frankly I find very few excellent coins that are not slabbed. Oh, I now look at raw coins and if I find one I like I will now take a risk but that doesn't happen very often.

boston

Only if I could hold them before buying.

Have to have some trust in the slab grade...And the grader!!!

BOSTON BOB

oreville

Andy: An interesting question.

Just this past several months I bought a ROLL of BU 1936-S quarters and they look very original.

Yet tonight I bought one measly slabbed 1936-S quarter that you looked at in another thread.

So in the end analysis the ratio of raw to slabbed was 40 to 1.

By the way, I still have in raw form all of my 1930's Gem BU quarters (including yet another 1936-S quarter) which I bought back in the very early 1970's in New York City.

Remember Brooklyn Heights Coin Exchange? For a while they had some nice coins (between 1970 and 1972).

UncleJoe

No. (I collect circulated Buffalo Nickels, not many in slabs)

In addition I have sold any slab I have come in possession of and therefore do not own any slabs.

Joe.

ksteelheader

Slabs, IMO, serve only one purpose in my collecting. Verification. They can stick their grades, since they are only their opinion!

Conder101

Considering I will not buy a coin for my collection, or in fact even look at them, if they are encased in plastic then I would have to say no.

ursabear

No. I like the coins I like, and I don't have the money to buy coins where one point of grade makes $$$ big differences. I like the coins I collect, and I like the coins I sell, slabbed or no...

MacCoin

sure I would, I have a set or 2 in the regustry. thats fun for me but I also have many more raw sets too.

BillJones

No, I collect a lot things like tokens and medals that seldom or never get into slabs. I have only now begun to get my core collection slabbed. Prior to now I saw no need to do it.

ARCO

I wouldn't buy any key dates that are heavily counterfeited...wait, I don't do that now. Nope, I would collect exactly the same. Now take away the internet and I would give up collecting and take up photography for lack of anything nice to buy.

Tyler