Who STARTED calling them "slabs?"

topstuf

Was "Cointainer" copyrighted?
That was good.

MGLICKER

Eric Holdered.

WoodenJefferson

Is the 20 coin holder box called a 'rasher' of slabs?

291fifth

Interesting question. The "slab" term was in use quite early but I don't recall just how early and have never heard who coined the term.

lunytune2

I refer to it as fossilized !

ms70

Years back I ran into a dealer that pronounced is as "slob".

stman

Who ever starting calling them slabs certainly didn't get it right. As they sure weren't in their "final" resting place.

ScarsdaleCoin

That was Al Gore after he invented the internet

Coin Finder

Hannibal Lecter

CaptHenway

<< <i>Was "Cointainer" copyrighted?
That was good. >>



THe E & T Kointainer Co. has been around since the late 60's or early 70's. I started using them in the 70's.

Cougar1978

That would be difficult to pin down, the term caught fire really quickly.

I remember a World Coin Dealer who did all raw stuff came by calling my table at a show "Slab City" circa 1994. I remember buying some world gold coins from him at melt at the show. These were beautiful proofs in capsules.

In had one case I had slabs stacked 6 deep With one layer = to 80 slabs this was 480 slabbed coins. Two other cases had currency and another one had a combo of slabs and USM material.

291fifth

<< <i>

<< <i>Was "Cointainer" copyrighted?
That was good. >>



THe E & T Kointainer Co. has been around since the late 60's or early 70's. I started using them in the 70's. >>



Actually, I think I remember reading that they started making their product in 1950.

BStrauss3

Well, this patent (filed in 1989) calls them slabs: https://www.google.com/patents/US4903825

CoinZip

I've often wondered who "Coined the phrase."

Pun intended.....

ajaan

or slab

JohnHarper

I did a Google search by date. David Lawrence used the term in a coin listing on February 1, 1993. Can anyone find an earlier reference?

Typographical error corrected.

shorecoll

I remember people referencing coins "entombed" in plastic, so I guess slab makes sense.

lasvegasteddy

probably a couple mortician's in the break-room over coffee

CaptHenway

<< <i>I did a Google search by date. David Lawrence used the term in a coin listing on February 1, 1983. Can anyone find an earlier reference? >>



On what? A GSA dollar case?

PCGS did not start until 1986, and in 1983 I would not let ANACS encase coins.

ricko

It probably started around the same time someone started calling tarnished coins 'toned'... Cheers, RickO

dac076

I definitely remember the term being used in the late 80's.

topstuf

shlubs?

johnny9434

geraldo's morque - you kill em, we chill em. aka slabbed. really though i have no freaking idea.

Cubby

" a couple of morticians in the break room over coffee"

Cocoinut

<< <i>I definitely remember the term being used in the late 80's. >>



+1

Jim

EagleEye

IIRC, it was attributed to Larry Whitlow, probably through Jerry Bobbe when he worked there.

messydesk

Scott Travers' Coin Collector's Survival Manual, uses the term in the 1988 edition.

oreville

"holder" was also used but has faded from the scene.

CaptHenway

<< <i>IIRC, it was attributed to Larry Whitlow, probably through Jerry Bobbe when he worked there. >>



I asked Mike Printz. He's pretty sure it wasn't Larry.

TwoSides2aCoin

Rumor has it that dealers who hated the idea of anyone sending the coin in, that they'd graded BU, Choice, UNC, or GEM, was really AU 58, or MS 61 and not really MS 63 or higher. And if people did send it in, they were committing numismatic suicide to question the dealer. This caused a bit of a stir for a couple years, until…

Oh wait, it continues.

Those dealers then began a smear campaign, accusing people of drinking koolaid and putting the coins in tombs, slabs, coffins, or other places that are reserved for the dead.

Unfortunately the smear campaign never ended but the "term" stuck like files on _____.

Believe it or not.
----------------------------------------

Incidentally, I just made this rumor up.

MrEureka

I'm virtually certain I heard the term within a year of PCGS opening their doors. I remember who I heard it from, but I'm also sure he didn't coin the phrase. (He told me where he heard it.)

Cocoinut

I began subscribing to The Coin Dealer Newsletter in September 1988. The first mention I can find of "slabs" after that was in the Oct. 21, 1988 newsletter, which states "In the Certified Coin Dealer newsletter, the "Bluesheet", we have been commenting for many months about the volatility of the slab market." That infers that the term had been in use for some time already.

Interestingly, the Certified Coin Dealer of Sept. 2, 1988 makes no reference to "slabs". The process used by PCGS was described as having a coin "sonically sealed in an inert, hard plastic container". NGC-graded coins were "placed in a "lab-tested" (inert), hard plastic holder and sonically sealed".

Jim

Ajjohnson77

I am a big fan of 2001 A Space Odyssey and 2010 The Year We Make Contact. I think we should call them Monoliths personally.