pcgs sapphire?

LanceNewmanOCC · July 18, 2014 3:01PM

.
so, in our never-ending quest to get scratch resistant slabs, my random youtube surfing session (well, one of my hundreds of sessions), i came across this.

maybe it is worth a $50-100 slab that can be inert for all us coin types as well as be scratch resistant for a few hundred years?

i am honestly having trouble mustering the words to describe the depth of frustration at how easily my slabs get small scuffs despite handing them with care and keeping them in bags. perhaps the bags aren't thick enough or perhaps the slabs scuff too easily?

yes, yes, i know. polish them suckers out. i am rather confident that while buffering the slabs makes me much more viewable, they will probably have thousands of micro pls.

lets take it to the next level.

how about making the slabs out of the material the gaskets are made of? they are touted to be very inert and next to impossible to scratch a pf70 coin surface with (watched a video of pcgs rubbing a gasket on such surfaces). can the material be as transparent as plastic or glass?

actually something just occurred to me. perhaps they can just use the material for the area directly around the rev/obv of the coin? perhaps even different diameters to save material?

of course the cost will take some time to be accepted but so did cac and coinfacts.

i'll admit i like the cost-effectiveness of the bags/intercept boxes but that gets to be a bit labor intensive.

i'll also admit to never remembering to request the better slabs that were/are supposed to be more resilient. perhaps they weren't effective enough and thusly not enough positive word-to-mouth or maybe just not enough marketing?

in the age of in-slab coin imaging, itseems pretty important.
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Bochiman · July 18, 2014 3:12PM

I try not to sweat the small stuff and, to me, if my coin is protected and I can still see the coin well, then a few scratches are the small stuff.
Yes, I have had newly slabbed coins come to me with scratches already on them, but, the coin graded and is safe.

stealer · July 18, 2014 3:16PM

It's been around, you can try monkey glass too. They may be scratch-resistant, but I don't know how well they would fare being dropped. Perhaps a layer of synthetic sapphire or a layer of monkey glass would do better.

Zoins · July 19, 2014 8:27AM

<< It's been around, you can try monkey glass too. They may be scratch-resistant, but I don't know how well they would fare being dropped. Perhaps a layer of synthetic sapphire or a layer of monkey glass would do better. >>

Good question on the dropping as iPhones with Gorilla glass frequently cracks the glass.

lkeigwin · July 19, 2014 9:15AM

I would pay more for a truly scratch-proof slab with optical clarity like the iPhone 6 sapphire. If it were a big price difference PCGS might make it optional. If it were available only with Secure Plus I would use that service.

The current slab is a big improvement, I must admit.
Lance.

Kudbegud · July 19, 2014 9:58AM

It's all a matter of hardness. Something harder will scratch something softer, something softer won't scratch something harder. The MHO's scale. Watch part 2 of Marques video:
Link

ricko · July 20, 2014 3:05AM

It is all a matter of cost.... plenty of options, most would likely not pay for them. Certainly some would.... Cheers, RickO

Sunnywood · July 20, 2014 3:30AM

This is a GREAT idea !!!! I hope PCGS will pay attention and read this. I would love to have my rarities and more expensive coins in a holder with scratch-proof sapphire glass in the round "coin window" area. Sapphire glass has been used on high end watches for years. There are manufacturers like Kyocera. More recently, a U.S. company (GT Advanced Technologies) has made new strides with sapphire glass, and is also in a huge new joint venture with Apple to provide either pure sapphire glass or hybrid sapphire/Gorilla glass laminates to Apple for iPhone 6. I believe once iPhone 6 comes out, "sapphire glass" will be all over the news. It can now be produced in fairly thin layers with excellent polished surfaces and optical qualities.

Someone in PCGS research & development or product engineering and development should seriously look into this. Every time I buy a rarity with scuff marks and scratches on the holder, I know it has to get reholdered, which means more handling etc. I would definitely pay substantially more for a really high-tech high-end holder.

There are a lot of coins out there worth $10,000 and up. Wouldn't it be worth it to have a $100 holder that is truly scuff-proof and scratch-proof? Once sapphire glass gets into volume with Apple, GT may be able to supply for relatively little. Maybe the holders would only be $20 extra, not $100. Then a lot more collectors might opt for it.

One other comment to PCGS ... something else that could easily be improved at very little cost ... I noticed the paper inserts in the holders seem to be made of thinner cheaper paper than in the past, even in the Secure Plus holders. I have some holders where the paper is wavy and not sitting flat, and it looks cheap. Just upgrading the paper stock a little bit would solve this at minimal marginal cost. Just a suggestion !!!

Best,
Sunnywood

lkeigwin · July 20, 2014 10:45AM

<< It's all a matter of hardness. Something harder will scratch something softer, something softer won't scratch something harder. The MHO's scale. Watch part 2 of Marques video:
Link >>

Fixed link

lostincoins · July 20, 2014 12:28PM

Many new plastics are comming out just look at what is used for eyeglasses for light weight and scratch/breakage resistance. Also the Iphone 4 and 4s did not use the Corning glass.

lostincoins · July 20, 2014 12:34PM

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ms70 · July 20, 2014 12:40PM

And they'll still put them in the holder crooked.

OldIndianNutKase · July 20, 2014 1:58PM

<< And they'll still put them in the holder crooked. >>

Looks like no QC at PCGS........

OINK

Shamika · July 20, 2014 2:10PM

Frankly, I'm not really concerned that the slabs can be scratched or scuffed. I'm just happy that my coins are protected from fingerprints.

lkeigwin · July 20, 2014 2:45PM

<< There are a lot of coins out there worth $10,000 and up. Wouldn't it be worth it to have a $100 holder that is truly scuff-proof and scratch-proof? >>

Yes, particularly if the optics are excellent. I would pay this. And I think registry leaders would do the same.

Many companies understand that packaging matters. Think Tiffany, Saks, or Apple, e.g. With most of these products the impression is made then the material is tossed. For collectors, even better...they would live with the coins for a long time. Sign me up.
Lance.

ms70 · July 20, 2014 10:23PM

Why are some people throwing around a suggested price of $50 or $100 like it's nothing? I highly doubt the material costs that much. The economy must be doing much better
because obviously some people must have too much money.

If I were a share holder I would hope the cost were researched and smartly applied in order for all slabs to become this material and PCGS stay on top of the market place. If PCGS
offered this for ONLY high end coins or as an optional service, NGC would be smart to make ALL their slabs out of this stuff.

pmac · July 20, 2014 10:42PM

Makes it tough to "crack-out" coins, but I agree, the very high end coins perhaps should get this treatment.

CoinMan1012 · July 23, 2014 1:08PM

uneconomical at best.

agentjim007 · July 23, 2014 2:28PM

While your at it how about non glare? They make non glare glass for pictures.

lostincoins · July 23, 2014 2:41PM

The holders would be injection molded and a large part of the cost is the tooling of the dies to create the holder. As for non glare that is a coating that is applied post production. This can be done using UV cured coatings so that they basically dry instantly and the material could also be uv resistant so that the label does not fade. Many options are open in materials but remember that a dual material molded product again is more money figuring out the tooling and at what temperatures the two materials will bond with each other without distortion or cracking. I actually have a friend who is a plant manager at an injection molding company here in Wisconsin and he is a product developer also.

stealer · July 23, 2014 2:47PM

<< uneconomical at best. >>

I would imagine that the product is actually quite low cost to produce and use. Almost all Android phones use some iteration of synthetic sapphire or gorilla glass.

pcgs sapphire?

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