How ARE slabs made?

1907Quarter

NGC/PCGS in particular. With the unbelievable amounts of different varieties of diameters and variation in some of the older coins, each coin must have a different set of steps in making these slabs. Anyone here know the details?

mgoodm3

They're grown from the finest iowa corn.

kieferscoins

The inner ring is different sizes for PCGS slabs. The outside shell is all the same size. Just 2 pieces of plastic and a inner ring and paper insert. Sonically sealed and thats about it.

Cameron Kiefer

1907Quarter

Cameron-
how do they know the exact diameter to use?

1907Quarter

They're grown from the finest iowa corn

dthigpen

<< <i>Cameron-
how do they know the exact diameter to use? >>



They have the rubber ring inserts premade for all the different sizes and just pop it in the appropriate one when it comes time to slab.

kieferscoins

They probably have a master sheet with the common coins and the diameter in Millimeters. They have basically every size from really small to large and if its not on the sheet they try a few sizes. The inner ring is pliable and can easily be put around a coin without damage.

Cameron Kiefer

1907Quarter

the answers now come together-thanks guys! now about ngc?

dthigpen

<< <i>the answers now come together-thanks guys! now about ngc? >>



Same thing.

JrGMan2004

Same thing with NGC... there's a solid-plastic outer shell, and then a white foamy-like insert... kinda like Intercept Shield holders...

robertpr

First, there were Dinosaurs. This was thousands of years ago, perhaps millions. There were many different kinds.

The Dinosaurs eventually came to an end. There is some dispute over how this happened, but the predomant theory among scientists today is that a large meteor stuck the earth, causing a cataclysmic change in the environment over an extended period of time leading to their mass extinction.

Where the Dinosaurs were, and particularly where there were large numbers of them, their bodies eventually decomposed and turned into oil. Why the Dinosaurs turned into oil and humans turn to dust I don't really know. Maybe because they're larger, or maybe there is a further step in the process and our cemetaries will eventually turn into oil fields. But I digress.

The oil then becomes the key ingredient in a manufacturing process which creates plastics. There are many different kinds of plastics and the manufacturing process is beyond the scope of this thread, but there are many resources on the net which explain it if you would like to look further. Do a search on Google.

The plastic is made into two hard pieces which become the outer shell and a softer more pliable inner core. The core is made with different diameter holes in it so different coins fit snugly into them.

Once the coin is inserted into the core, and an insert is generated, the core and insert are placed between the two solid slab pieces like a sandwich and the whole thing is placed into a machine which emits high-intensity, directed sound waves which are so intense they literally melt the plastic around the edges of the shell and weld the whole thing together.

The ironic thing about the whole process is that here you are using, in the rawest sense, oil which is extracted from the ground to seal up metals which are extracted from rocks in the ground.

Maybe we should all just take up rock collecting!

nwcs

Nah, it's when a slab mother and a slab father really love each other than a new slab is made. Didn't your parents teach you about these things as a kid?

Bochiman

You are almost correct.
The inner rings are the same size.
What they do is put the ring around the coin,
put the combo in an oven for a few minutes (at 500degrees),
then the ring shrinks to fit.
The slab is then sonically sealed.

That's why you get some toning that people think is AT (from the oven) and why some toning occurs after the coin is sent in and then burnt in the oven if left too long.

coppercoins

How ARE slabs made?


They are made with the money of people willing to pay dearly to have them made. If the people aren't happy with the result, they are made again with the money of the same people. Repeat ad nauseum.

Deadhorse

<< <i>First, there were Dinosaurs. This was thousands of years ago, perhaps millions. There were many different kinds.

The Dinosaurs eventually came to an end. There is some dispute over how this happened, but the predomant theory among scientists today is that a large meteor stuck the earth, causing a cataclysmic change in the environment over an extended period of time leading to their mass extinction.

Where the Dinosaurs were, and particularly where there were large numbers of them, their bodies eventually decomposed and turned into oil. Why the Dinosaurs turned into oil and humans turn to dust I don't really know. Maybe because they're larger, or maybe there is a further step in the process and our cemetaries will eventually turn into oil fields. But I digress. >>



And only in the Western world do we still believe in a 200 year old myth.

Oil is abiogenic. Nothing at all to do with decomposing biological material.

However, plastic does indeed come from oil.