ICG holders vs PCGS holders

sumner1984

I was just reading at icgcoin.com and they claim that their intercept shield is the best in the industry, better than pcgs. This cant be true. How safe and protective are pcgs holders, lets say I burried the holder in the earth serveral feet down like burried treasure, would the coin be safe inside after several years?

kieferscoins

Intercept shield protects against gases and not the earth. There are no studies on the survival of burried slabs.

Cameron Kiefer

sumner1984

But do you think the ICG holder is any better, I have some green insert PCGS holders I purchased in 1994, and the coins seem fine, so I guess I answered my own question. I guess ICG is just trying to attract customers.

LincolnCentMan

I like the ICG holders with the intercept inserts much better than pcgs holders. However, any coin "nice" enough to merit the intercept technology I desire has to stay in a PCGS holder for it to retain it's marketiblity.

...too bad.

I sent an e-mail to ICG one time about a hypbrid slab. I basicly got told that that my solution would work great for my purpose, but that ICG had no intrest in it. The email I receieved was, in my opinion, a pretty snotty responce... which is the #2 reason I have yet to send a coin to them for gradeing. The #1 reason is their extream lack of marketability (or at least that is my perspective.)

David

flaminio

<< <i>I was just reading at icgcoin.com and they claim that their intercept shield is the best in the industry, better than pcgs. This cant be true. >>



Put down the Kool-Aid, son. Intercept shield is a pretty good product, and ICG has exclusive use of it in their slabs. Their claim just might be true.

BigAl

any coin "nice" enough to merit the intercept technology I desire has to stay in a PCGS holder for it to retain it's marketiblity.----very true, unless of course you plan on keeping the coin for life.

I believe their claim--that the icg slab is technologically superior to all others--a fact which alone may not be enough to entice someone from pcgs or ngc. If difficulty in cracking-out is any indicator, then they are top dog. Speaking of crack-outs, I've had very good luck submitting x-icg (morgans only) to pcgs-----better than anacs.

Steve27

"lets say I burried the holder in the earth serveral feet down like burried treasure, would the coin be safe inside after several years?"


I asked David Hall if the PCGS slabs were sealed with an inert gas inside. He said no, and the main reason was that the slabs are not completely sealed. The bottom line is that you still have to carefully store your slabs (i.e. in a sealed container with a desiccant).

gemtone65

To me, the PCGS holder seems to show the coin's features more accurately and the luster more intensely than the ICG slab. Also, the ICG slab seems to nick up more easily, and when it does, it results in marks that, in photogaphs give the appearance of being black spots on the coin. So, perhaps the quality and durability of the plastic used in the PCGS holder is superior to that used by ICG.

fivecents

PGCS Is the only grading service that will buy back any copper coins that have enviromental problems. Considering copper is by far the most unstable of all the coin metals, that is what I call putting your money where your mouth is.
What I would be concerned about is the difference in PCGS and ICG grading standards and which holder will net you more money when you decide to sell. imo

291fifth

While I will no longer buy any ICG slabs due to their marketability problems I also don't like the slabs themselves. The ICG slabs seemed very prone to appearance problems due to the plastic used or the design or both. The fact that they used the intercept shield product made no difference to me.

Conder101

<< <i>I was just reading at icgcoin.com and they claim that their intercept shield is the best in the industry, better than pcgs. This cant be true. >>


Why not? Both holders are excellent if they are completely sealed, but the plastics are permiable and over time various gases which can be detrimental to the coin will work their way right THROUGH the plastic of the holder. When this happens on an ICG slab (or if the slab isn't completely sealed), ICG has the Intercept Shield insert inside their holder which will react with these gases more rapidly than the coin will which act to keep the coin protected from the gasses that do get in. The PCGS slab has no such secondary line of protection inside so once the gasses do get in they are free to attack the coin. For this reason ICG says that their holders are better than PCGS holders. And in that regard they are probably right.