Has the preference for slabbed coins now permanently influenced exonumia?
DCW
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A thought:
It wasnt too long ago that collectors of tokens and medals not only preferred their items raw, but scoffed at the practice of slabbing them. Anyone remember the little sewn cloth "pouches" that were used to store them?
It seems now (and for perhaps the last five years) that slabbed tokens and medals are now preferred and in some cases required by collectors before a purchase. This may be a big contributing factor in the push north of realized prizes in this niche of the hobby.
To expound on this point a little, even though counterfeiting is not nearly as prevalent in exonumia as it is in US Coins, the price increases over the last decade are almost surely noted by people with unscrupulous values. Certification kind of nips that in the bud. Authenticity is guaranteed.
The counterpoint to all of this? "Grades" are all over the map!
They shouldn't matter as much as the eye appeal. In fact, there is no discernible standard to grading any of it! How can there be, when there are literally thousands of different designs? Predictably, it's not as easy as seeing a Jefferson Nickel and slapping a grade on the label.
With grading fees sometimes nearing or exceeding the value of the pieces themselves, what exactly are the benefits to slabbing them? Have we now crossed the point of no return in collecting raw exonumia?
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Comments
Slabs are not currently a factor in my area of European medals. Prices, counterfeiting and doctoring could change that, but I don't foresee it.
I still buy Civil War Tokens in little sewn cloth pouches, mostly from Steve Hayden. He has a lot of “nice uncirculated” CWTs that are sold raw and it’s possible to build a decent collection that way.
I agree with your statement .
I am becoming "unslabbed " and refuse to slab coins under $500.
Its kinda fun holding raw coins again.
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
For me, preservation has always factored in as an important consideration with slabs.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Many modern issues are stripped from their original packaging and sent for grading as fast as people get them. Some of this packaging was reasonably well done, like the box and book that came with the 2009 UHR issue. At some future time, these coins in their original packaging might be incredibly desirable.
My experience (very limited but might apply to some others) is that I only recently have started seeking out exonumia (having seen some cool designs/informative posts from people on here and other forums). Being used to slabs in my main collecting area (US coins), it was natural that I would gravitate to slabs for exonumia. This is in part for consistency and in part because of convenience.
Good point, and one that I had not considered. As more "regular" coin collectors explore the area of thetokens and medals, they bring with them customs which have become engrained in the hobby itself.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Here are some more thoughts now that I have more time.
I still do this today as mentioned above
I think this may be preferred for rare and premium pieces but there's still a lot of exonumia that isn't slabbed. Just search eBay for Civil War Tokens and So-Called Dollars. Also, there doesn't seem to be a big premium for slabbed pieces at the low end.
Counterfeiting isn't as bad for exonumia but it has happened as has been discussed for Civil War Tokens. A big issue with coins is counterfeit slabs which is why the new PCGS slabs have RFID chips. If there's enough money in counterfeit exonumia, expect counterfeit exonumia in counterfeit slabs as well.
I haven't see a lot of upgrades for some exonumia, probably because some pieces are so rare with just a handful in the pops. It's still exciting when there's less than 10 of something.
Eye appeal is a part of grades so it all counts in the grade. It's hard to compare until something like PCGS CoinFacts comes along but it only shows the top 3 now. I've been wanting to see more PCGS exonumia registry sets and condition census listings in CoinFacts. Right now, in PCGS Collectors Showcase, there are no sets for Civil War Tokens or So-Called Dollars.
I think the preservation benefits are clear for absolute and condition rarities no matter the cost. I have some for tokens in the $50 to $150 range. For common, inexpensive pieces, there's not that much benefit, the same as coins which is why there are so many raw pieces and slabbed pieces don't seem to command much of a premium.
I still think it's possible to have fun and collect a lot of exonumia without slabs, but slabs are certainly making inroads in certain segments of the hobby.
I generally prefer raw CWT store cards, but do buy “graded” tokens when necessary.
My latest raw purchase...
"A penny hit by lightning is worth six cents". Opie Taylor
although I feel I can competently grade the Exonumia that I collect and have no qualms about buying raw, my main concern and reason for encapsulating is for protection. most of the "holders" from the point of issue harm rather than protect.
to that end, I much prefer the PCGS capsule because it allows more light to the viewers eye.
Here's one of my recent So-Called Dollars, HK-608. I picked it up raw for just over $100. There are just 7 in the NGC Census and none at PCGS. HA has sold 2 slabbed pieces:
I'm not sure what mine will grade at but, after seeing the above prices, I'm glad I got mine raw
This is especially true of soft metals. I have a white metal Civil War Token that has been destroyed in an ATS slab. There are non-damaged pics on Heritage to prove it
I tend to prefer medals and tokens raw....coins, rare or of significant value, I prefer slabbed...Authenticity in coins has become necessary with the increasing counterfeiting of U.S. coins particularly. Cheers, RickO
I find the OP to be inconsistent with my experience. I have been collecting tokens in slabs since 2004 and have always preferred this to raw, not just the past 5 years.
Best, SH
Is it really a preference for slabbed tokens and medals or an auction preference for slabbed material, sight unseen buying? Most token/medals guys I see at shows are still predominantly raw.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
The only tokens I have slabbed are the HK573 all others are raw
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/publishedset/209923
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/album/209923
“The Rubicon” has been crossed if you are looking to buy “finest known” or highest grade pieces at very high prices. If you are buying circulated tokens, the market values are not high enough for many of them to warrant certification.
The ironic thing is, if the value of a red or R&B copper piece is tied to color grade on the holder, the guarantee is limited and most be periodically renewed.
Frankly I prefer my tokens and medals raw, but I know that I have a dinosaur. I have bought some certified pieces when the grade was exceptional or when it was a variety that has been on my want list for a long time. I don’t crack them out for economic reasons, but sometimes I wish that they were raw.
Another aspect that slabbing provides is provenance, which is becoming increasingly more important to collectors. Names like Zabriskie for Lincoln medals, Baker for Washingtonia, Fuld and Tanenbaum for Civil War tokens. Most recently, Q. David Bowers sent his entire reference collection to PCGS for slabbing, complete with a special label bearing his likeness. A sign of the times.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Perhaps in your own preference, which is not unlike others. But exonumia is most certainly moving in the direction of slabbing. Consider that PCGS has only been slabbing Civil War Tokens for the last 7 years or so. Perplexingly, they resisted that move for ages while NGC cornered the market. As Bill Jones stated above, slabbing is not necessarily for the low dollar common stuff. But it has become almost essential for the rare, high grade trophy pieces.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
airtites seem to work and I have used them for a variety of interesting coins, tokens or whatever. TPG seems to a option for items that are either rare and slabbing helps with authentication issues or if it is a condition rarity that benefits immensely from the opinion. So much of what can be collected and truly worthy of collecting does not need or require slabbing.
With respect to larger medals, I see it as a matter or preference based on what is being collected.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I buy exonumia all ways and personally for storage, photography, measuring weight, diameter, and thickness reasons prefer raw. Selling raw has never been an issue either as I've never had a single person ever pass as it wasn't slabbed. Also what any grading service thinks grading wise has never swayed me as I've downgraded quite a few for an example that was better overall. Now the positive of slabbed exonumia is that it has brought far more fresh blood into this hobby area. This has helped exonumia outperform coins on a yearly bases for over a decade.
Good observation and I generally agree with this. An added note is that there are a lot of raw uncirculated, lower-value tokens as well, including many Civil War Tokens. There are also some very high auction results for raw pieces. It's hard to predict what will happen at auction. However, I agree the general trend is for top tier exonumia to be slabbed and lower value tokens to be raw, even if uncirculated.
Progress is being made, but I think there's still a lot of opportunity with provenance tracking with tokens from a slab perspective. For example, QDB had his reference collection slabbed (which is great), but his name doesn't show up in the cert database for the pedigree and I can't find a reference to trace these pieces to earlier owners like Rossa or Tanenbaum. More recently, PCGS does list the "Historical Society of PA" as the pedigree in Cert Verification for the Baker Collection, but not William Sphon Baker which is arguably more important to collectors.
I actually think Stack's and the auction houses are doing better on provenance tracking now. I just picked up a raw silver Lincoln token from QDB's collection (1 of 3 struck) and Stack's lists the provenance as F.C.C. Boyd, Wayte Raymond, John J. Ford Jr., Dr. Schuster, and QDB. These are important names but too much for a slab. I also picked up other raw tokens for which Stack's lists the provenance as Zabriskie and QDB. On the slab side, I have some of the QDB Reference Collection slabs, but as mentioned, there is no provenance chain like that or information online in Cert Verification. Stack's did a good job with the Baker collection as well listing both William Sphon Baker and the Historical Society of PA, while PCGS only lists the Historical Society. It seems like it would have been nice for Stack's to handle sales of QDB's reference collection to create online provenance chains. Overall, this shouldn't be that surprising as auction houses generally have much richer provenance information than the TPGs given their different priorities.
One area I think progress could be made is on PCGS CoinFacts which has Condition Census information with provenance but this is going beyond just the slab itself and I have yet to see this happen for exonumia. Something like what I'm doing for the gold Wilson So-Called Dollars would be great:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1008869/1920-gold-wilson-dollar-manila-mint-opening-hk-1031#latest
A great thing about the 2009 URH box is that a company (Tangible Assets?) was selling an alternate wood insert that could accommodate a slab in the OGP box. That coin had a very nice box.
I have about 20 struck over US or foreign coins - they are safer in plastic and easier to share with ham-handed friends.