The times they are a-changing' - more slabbed copper?
abitofthisabitofthat
Posts: 2,142 ✭✭✭
I usually think of the copper side of the coin market as very stable. Copper collectors seem to work on their collections for decades. New dealers do not pop up in this space too often. Certain coins never go out of style.
Also, copper folks still stick to EAC grading, and a much higher percent of coins are raw, compared to other series.
Over the years, I have seen slabs creep into the copper dealers' cases. However, slabbed coins never seemed a focus, and sometimes a dealer would mention that they took some slabbed coins in trade on occasion.
At this Baltimore show, I saw a major copper dealer who had no raw coins on display. All slabs. It took me a bit by surprise, so I asked about the change. The person behind the table, who was not the principal, said they had some raw copper behind the table, but were shifting the business to slabs.
Anyone else notice this shift?
Also, copper folks still stick to EAC grading, and a much higher percent of coins are raw, compared to other series.
Over the years, I have seen slabs creep into the copper dealers' cases. However, slabbed coins never seemed a focus, and sometimes a dealer would mention that they took some slabbed coins in trade on occasion.
At this Baltimore show, I saw a major copper dealer who had no raw coins on display. All slabs. It took me a bit by surprise, so I asked about the change. The person behind the table, who was not the principal, said they had some raw copper behind the table, but were shifting the business to slabs.
Anyone else notice this shift?
merse
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Also, the major auction houses preferentially have their lots slabbed because this will bring in bring in bids from non-copper specialists.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
from previous shows, that I could recall.
I guess it's inevitable, with the generally higher dollar value, broader appeal, assurance, and liquidity that certification provides, that
even the diehards would succumb to the power of the Koolaid
<< <i>Yes, I noticed at Summer FUN that the major EAC dealers were starting to carry some slabbed coins, more so than
from previous shows, that I could recall.
I guess it's inevitable, with the generally higher dollar value, broader appeal, assurance, and liquidity that certification provides, that
even the diehards would succumb to the power of the Koolaid
My Early Large Cents
There is not question, however, what direction the market is heading.
JA
Coin Rarities Online
<< <i>I'm at all these shows and I honestly haven't noticed any change in who caries what, slabbed or raw. Among the copper dealers, CVM has been 90/10 slabs/raws for a while, it seems, Doub Bird is maybe 40/60, Butternut is roughly 30/70 and Tom Reynolds is 10/90. Or so.
There is not question, however, what direction the market is heading.
JA >>
And a sad state of affairs it is, too.
Oh well, I still own a hammer.
<< <i>My tainted view is that the TPGs are looser with grading than the EAC so they get to sell their coins at a higher grade when they are slabbed. >>
Not really. Most EAC dealers charged prices which corresponded with what the coin would have graded at a TPG anyway. For example, a coin that under EAC grading standards would be considered a nice VF but would probably engender an XF grade at PCGS would nearly always be priced at the PCGS XF+ level even while raw.
Wow, pricing the COIN not the slab...what a concept!
<< <i>Not really. Most EAC dealers charged prices which corresponded with what the coin would have graded at a TPG anyway. For example, a coin that under EAC grading standards would be considered a nice VF but would probably engender an XF grade at PCGS would nearly always be priced at the PCGS XF+ level even while raw. >>
Yep! They grade 'em tough, but they don't use the Greysheet to price 'em
The Penny Lady®
<< <i>TPGs DO need to be more forgiving and stop throwing everything with surfaces worse than a VF Lincoln cent into "Genuine" holders. They need to accept porosity, planchet issues and time related degradation on lower grade copper (VF) as nature if the beast.
>>
I just got this one back, but wasn't really surprised. The first 2 pics are from 2 weeks ago when it was raw. They show the "environmental damage" better than the slab photo, but it's still an attractive coin.
and the slabbed verdict is:
Jim
<< <i>*Chicago Tribune
September 29, 1991
By Roger Boye.
Irate Collectors Hit Plastic Casing As A Slab In The Face
The country`s largest coin-grading service still plans to place rare colonial coins in hard-plastic ``slabs`` despite warnings that its action could harm the hobby.
Officials of the Professional Coin Grading Service said this summer that- for a fee-they would authenticate and grade colonial coins and then encase them in clear plastic. At least a dozen hobby pros criticized that
announcement, and a few persons even purchased advertisements in hobby publications to complain.
Nevertheless, PCGS will start to grade colonials within the next six months, said company spokesperson Patricia Minassian on Sept. 19. In its 5 1/2 years as a company, PCGS has ``slabbed`` nearly three million coins-most U.S. gold and silver pieces from the 19th and 20 Centuries.
Hobby scholar and author Walter Breen wrote in a letter to Coin World that a collector who buys coins made in Colonial America wants to know their alloy, weight, die variety and other information that won`t appear on the slab.
``Sometimes a colonial coin`s rarity level (therefore, its potential market) depends on its edge device,`` Breen wrote. ``But who can see if a slabbed coin even has edge lettering without breaking it out?``
Perhaps worse, Breen said, is that a copper coin exposed to atmospheric contaminants will bring them inside the slab ``where the harmful chemicals continue to do their dirty work.``
Research cataloger Michael Hodder said that slabbing colonial coins will do ``an immeasurable amount of damage`` to the understanding of early American numismatic history. Colonial coins could not be weighed or otherwise analyzed if they were in slabs, he wrote in an open letter to PCGS.
But David Hall, PCGS chief executive officer, said his company isn`t forcing collectors to have their coins slabbed.
``There is a significant portion of the coin-buying public that likes our service and wants us to grade colonials,`` Hall said in a Coin World letter. >>