Coin Slab Removal Eff Ups
GuzziSport
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Early days of slabs - I bought a nice original 1802/0 VG or so half cent in an ANACS soapbox, hated the notion of it being trapped in a plastic tomb, so I cracked it open with a vice and a pliers, the coin pops out of the insert onto a cement basement floor, and voila! Nice new bright coppery ding in the coin’s edge.
Ughhhh…. Talk about feeling like a blooming idiot…. Never again.
Other passions include golf, Moto Guzzi motorcycles, and Euro motorcycles in general.
Chris
10
Comments
Lesson learned, will get thru it
Better method: Hammer and light to moderate taps around the edge of the holder on an anvil until it can be gently disassembled.
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I use my concrete garage floor instead of anvil LOL! But yes the hammer tap intensity is key.
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I used to use metal snips to cut them out. Ngc and pcgs would hold the coin securely, but I was cutting a $2 1/2 gold Indian out of a no name holder once and the coin slipped out of the prongs and I literally cut it almost into two pieces. Made me sick. It was a pretty decent coin too, even coming from a basement brand holder.
I've never cracked one out, I'll leave it to all you Professionals
Keep them coming it will help someone else learn Not What To Do.
For decades, metal snips were my go-to slab crackers.
However, there was a learning curve:
Early on, a customer brought in a PCGS graded Peace dollar (his optimistic declared value was $600) that he wanted us to send to NGC in hopes of an upgrade.
Puting a submission together layer that week, I snipped too close when cracking out his coin and dug into the rim on both sides. Ouch!
He wasn’t too happy when I called to tell him what happened.
And I wasn’t too happy to pay him $600 for ruining a coin that I thought was worth closer to $200.
But I immediately became a more careful cracker-outer, with no further numismatic fatalities.
30+ years coin shop experience (ret.) Coins, bullion, currency, scrap & interesting folks. Loved every minute!
I bought a nice coin on GC…and was happy when it arrived. After I logged it into my spread sheet, I took it and went to put it in my safe…..and it slipped out of my hand…and hit the front frame of the safe…..(approximately a two foot drop)…and it put a nice crack on the edge of the slab. Had to get PCGS to re-slab it for me…..🥴😩. Got it back and it’s safe and sound and back to new, but wasn’t happy about blowing almost $100 again for something so minor….
Put it in a bench vise and slowly twist until the plastic halves pop apart. No risk of cutting or touching the coin. Plus sometimes it pops apart so cleanly that you can reuse the slab.
Suggest that you wrap the slab in a cloth first for eye safety.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I haven't cracked a coin out in a quite a while, but my go to (and safest method) was using a saw with a miter box.
CAC | PCGS | NGC
I got a chuckle out of a couple of these, including the OP's post. Not funny ... but since I know it was lessons learned from long ago ... kinda funny!
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
I use a wire end cutter that is pretty new, so quite sharp and about 1" wide. I've cut out every type of holder with no danger to the coin but always do it at my desk over a soft towel.
I know, but if you know me, you know I take my job as a steward of these historic artifacts very seriously!
I felt like an abject failure in that role☹️
Other passions include golf, Moto Guzzi motorcycles, and Euro motorcycles in general.
Chris
A bandsaw works quite well also.
I have this type:
My mistakes and losses with coins, though small, have generally been limited to proper packaging.
Safety first!
Chris, even knowing you as little as I do do I know you take the role of a caretaker quite seriously (as do I), and so I guess in a dark way, that helps add to the humor
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
@pursuitofliberty thanks Todd, we’re of similar mindsets, and to think I didn’t even include the part about me chasing that ‘02 half cent around my cellar as it rolled away on its edge! Horrifying…. LOL
Other passions include golf, Moto Guzzi motorcycles, and Euro motorcycles in general.
Chris
I haven’t damaged any coins by cracking them out, so my tale of woe is a little different.
Shortly after PCGS announced that they were going to be doing restoration, I had a ‘33S walker in a 64 rattler that had some light gold haze on it that bugged me, so I submitted it.
They cracked it, dipped it, and reholdered it in a new blue label slab. So I paid a moderate fee to make it look like everyone else’s….
This was prior to the old holder craze of course, but I still think back on it and wince.
Lesson learned, be happy with what you have and leave it alone, unless there’s substantial upside to be gained.
My "pliers"..............
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
One of my favorites 😍
That's the way to go.
I use a vice and pliers too but I don't crack them out anymore. I have plenty of raw Morgan's to satisfy my appetite for them.
I still buy them and from time to time I like to sell them but in the holder.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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JWP
Please please replace that blade pass through plate(is that what it's really called?). That is an injury waiting to happen if material is pulled into it.
If it makes you feel any better, they do say that they won't "just dip a coin back to white" so there was probably something else also going on.
Collector, occasional seller
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No big deal - I've been a woodworker for 40 years - if ya can't work around a worn table insert then you shouldn't be around a saw in the first place,
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Yes, that is exactly what I use and they work great on every slab that I've come across with no danger to the coin.
Drop that guide lower to the material
remember what your highschool woodshop teacher told you, No Sense Tempting Fate. 
Overkill. Pliers always worked for me, good old brute strength.
Wrap in old hand towel, place on edge on garage floor and tap with hammer gently. Towel contains coin and plastic shards - safer, no damage, easy cleanup.
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I've learned to wrap in a few layers of newspaper or cardboard to prevent the possibility of the coin landing on the floor. But I agree the bench vise method is for me.