Are slabs less fun...WAY less fun....than albums?
topstuf
Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
I look at my boxes of stuff and it's good but not GREAT like it was when I collected into an album.
I can vividly remember the experience of the Dansco 7070 and the pleasure of looking at the progression of design in our coins.
I also think it has concentrated a BUNCH of concern over condition whereas before, in the album, while condition dictated purchases, just seeing nice LOOKING coins in that lineup took precedence over technical evaluation of each individual piece.
Ah well.....
Let's see. 
Are slabs less fun...WAY less fun....than albums?
This is a private poll: no-one will see what you voted for.
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Comments
Slabs are way less fun! Especially at coin shows as less inventory in red boxes to search!
Hey, it's safe to vote. Nobody will know who you are.
I have found a great alternative in PCGS's Virtual Albums! You need to be happy with your photography skill or hire someone to take pictures for you though.
Yeah, I use that feature.
T'ain't the same though.
It works best for me as my babies are entombed in a Bank Safe Deposit Box.
PS I won't vote because I agree with both choices!
I look ay my boxes of stuff and see coins in all kinds of holders and containers, almost every type is represented, it's almost like a collection in itself. For "standard" sets, yes i like albums best, however for some collections (early coins by die variety) safeflips in a double row box is preferable. Slabbed coins are great for those individual coins that warrant it.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Slab vote here. I pass around my 7070 of replica/counterfeit/facsimile coins. I keep MY coins safely ensconced in their protective "drool-resistant" holders.
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I didn't vote...for me, it's not a binary choice. I do both. My collection, registered here as an asset class and legacy. Second the album collection I do with my grandson.
Easy...do both
Enjoy both
"Just because you were born on 3rd base doesn't mean you hit a triple"
Neither answer fits my opinion, but I voted for slabs over albums. The "albums" have been in my head for years. I know where my holes are without looking at an album. Also when most everything has to be stored in a safe deposit box, most albums won't fit and take up way too much space. You can take the expensive key dates out of the album and put them in the box, but doesn't that defeat the joys of the album?
Depends on the coins. If we're talking MS 66RD Indian Cents, slabs are more fun because you don't have to worry as much about the stability of the coins. If we're talking about XF Seated Dollars, albums are more fun. And the size of the coins also matters. I hate small coins in slabs. The plastic overwhelms the coins.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Capital holders were cool.
If you don't have room in your SDB for albums or Capitol holders, you just need a bigger SDB
.
I voted for slabs because they will be easier to sell when the time comes.
Also since they are stored in bank SDB, the PCGS digital album gives me my 'fix' when I need to look at them.
https://pcgs.com/SetRegistry/dollars/morgan-dollars-specialty-sets/morgan-dollars-prooflike-major-varieties-circulation-strikes-1878-1921/album/10340
I woke up thinking I'd start another 7070 with circs.
Then I woke up.
>
That's logical, but logic has very little to do with what is "fun".
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I enjoy Lighthouse encap pages and coins in airtites. Love the flexibility of being able to add varieties or cool coins to my set without leaving holes. With the airtites I feel the coins are as about as stable as they can be. Only downside I suppose is no album toning if you’re into that.
I'd say slabs are a little less fun. I like collecting the sorts of coins that deserve to be in slabs. It protects the coins from me and helps preserve their value in the other ways we all know and love. I'd be a nervous wreck if I had four-figure coins in an album. They can fall out, the slides can cause hairlines, toning progresses, etc. Slabs are bulky though and a full type set takes up many blue boxes. It's also tough get a feel for the collection when the individual pieces are so spread out.
I like the digital albums, as amwldcoin has said, but they're not as good as the real thing. Flipping over the gold page in a 7070 is heavy!
I'm working on a side project or two and I love putting lower-value pieces in the 7070. They really make an impression when they're all there together.
I answered "yes", but slabs do offer more protection. And, I remember well the bad old days before third party authentication and grading. We collectors paid heck of a lot more in tuition than was fair. Also, there is this liquidity thing. On balance, less fun but much safer, so better.
It's been so long since I put coins in albums, I've forgotten.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
For US type set albums, I have 4 sets going. Dansco 7070A, 7070 B, and Whitman (the complete 2-volume classic set) A &B. Generally I'd upgrade a coin in 7070A, which is complete w/gold, and bump the old coin down to the next spot, and so on..
sometimes I'll buy a coin specifically for 7070B (color toned) or one of the whitman sets ( A is typically circ-cams, B is original-but-holed or contemporaneously test-marked, with a few slick fillers and a couple Gallery mint replicas.. which i find to be very fun in this context, relative to the pittance they cost.
Usually all this lives in the SDB but sometimes comes home to work on, need to make a few cracks of slabs and moves of coins, been saving up rather than one by one..
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
It depends largely on the series and the condition sought. There is something quaint and old school about high end circulated coins in a Library of Coins album-like Morgan or Peace Dollars or even Walkers
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I voted for albums because I thought everyone
else would vote for slabs
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Too many of just common dates let alone keys are being counterfited for these old eyes take the chanch on raw coins anymore. It sure is not fun to pay for a counterfeit.....
Fun? Yes.
Better for long term coin storage of expensive coins? I'm not so sure.
I have both, but only keep my relatively inexpensive coins in albums.
Yes I'm probably too logical.
I'm also psychic and can see into the future all of that 'fun' I would have trying to sell raw PL and DMPL Morgan dollars
I prefer slabs !!!
Albums are fun but slabs are much safer for your family after you pass...
I sold off my non-certified coins - what a headache and I know what the coins are worth. I cant imagine trying to haggle with a dealer on the buy price for an album if you dont know coins... At least with PCGS/NGC coins you can at least give your Executor a possibility of not getting ripped off when it comes time to liquidate.
Hmmm.... when family safety passes fun in coins, well............
In my opinion a seller must slab coins for protection and ease of selling. A collector's fun being all important to this hobby, for without fun how many collectors would there be? I voted FUN not slabs for collectors. Great post.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
I'll go with the slabs!
I prefer albums or raw....and I have many, many, many slabs. Just more satisfying to hold a coin or an album and look at the coins without a 'window' and the ability to easily see side three. I have the ability to see any of my coins, whenever I choose.... no SDB....my security is more than adequate. Cheers, RickO
I can't vote. I don't think it's an either/or. I'm not big on slabs like many around here. Most of my coins are raw and not even worth the price of a slab!
BUT, I do like slabs when I'm bidding sight unseen because I have some confidence, if it's NGC or PCGS, that I know what I'm getting with a clearer sense of the value of what I'm getting.
In my opinion slab have ruined collecting.
I was enjoying slabs just fine until they closed the registry ATS.
Indian Head $10 Gold Date Set Album
I think albums are annoying. If you want to look at just one coin, it is a pain. Holding a loop up to just one coin in an album is terrible...flip the coin over for the verse offers a bigger problem. Want to pull the coin out of the album to get a closer look?...risks and more problems. Most coins "worth" keeping are worth having in slabs.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
I have a lot of coins in albums but wish I didn't. It was fun but now it's a pain to mess with.
Albums are generally way better, IMO. I recently saw an almost complete Barber dime set in an older DANSCO album. All were dirty, dark original XF coins. It was stunning turning the pages. The two or three holes really jumped out at you! I don’t get the same feeling looking at stacks of plastic.
Dave
Albums are more visually compelling, and a complete set looks like a complete set. There’s no visual satisfaction looking at a complete set in slabs.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
After opposing the slab concept in the late 1980s, I came around to acceptance. For me CAC has ruined collecting. The attitude that all coins which do not have the PCGS - CAC seal of approval is bogus. I've seen some coins that CAC rejected that were perfectly okay. I've seen others that were over graded or problem coins that were net graded which received the CAC seal of approval. Neither of those situations is acceptable in my opinion and do not deserve the CAC seal of approval.
I am going sit tight and enjoy the hobby. I'll make the decision about CAC when comes time to sell. But in the mean time CAC has diminished my enjoyment in this hobby. I hope that CAC will leave the token and medal and the British coin series alone. I am more and more going to the dark side.
i like albums but feel that slabs can be a bonus to my collection. jmo
Albums are more visually compelling, and a complete set looks like a complete set. There’s no visual satisfaction looking at a complete set in slabs.
I have mixed feelings about this.
I like albums and seeing coins in them, but I've also seen some stellar slabbed collections that look great when set out and arranged by date. A complete set of high MS Indian cents in old holders, Angel Dee's set of toned buffalos, the Boka Copperhead large cent collection all stand out in my mind.
Casual collecting by albums is way more fun, and less stressful. But digital albums are great compromises. I think a mix of each is ideal.
Lance.
I like both. Slabs for protection and certification -- then make digital albums from the photos for sharing with others.
My Coin Blog
My Toned Lincoln Registry Set
Well done and a beautiful set... Ive been working on a 1933-1958 toned Lincoln set for the past several years and its not easy...
God bless all penny boards.
Collecting is fun period. Albums do not provide protection and slabs are not as visually stunning as a collective. Albums can be bulky. I remember not having albums as a kid, and just lining up pennies chronologically. I seemed to always have a space for 1943...not knowing about the steel pennies. But that was fun....and who cared if you actually touched the coin? Yeah, they weren't perfect, some toned, some worn out, some bright n' shiny, all circulated. We've all grown up and now don't dare even touch a new coin. Sure it would be fun to hold your coins, hear the sound of them clinking together, shaking them, lining them all up....but at what cost to the value? And if "fun" is the same as "satisfaction", I think I'll vote for the slabs!
Let albums rip. They prolly had their place on in the 60’s.
Love slabs - a show case will hold 80 slots stacked 6 Deep. That’s almost 500 CRC! Looks impressive especially if BU $ Commems Walkers gold.
I am encountering more bulk collectors than Date collectors nowadays.
I have my seated quarter collection in three Eagle brand slab albums. The best of both worlds!
Doug