The new NGC AirView Holder

[Kali]

Saw this new holder from NGC, might be a game changer for ancient and medieval collectors. I will still keep my collection raw.

https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/9218/airview-holder/

[Prieure de Sion]

That will be change everything 😄 … no seriously - I like the new „holders“ - so much better than the old ones. I am a member since 2 weeks - and I think I will now graded my coins with this new design.

i am a pendant and like this system… all coins fine in the same box…

[CPK]

That's cool.

"Suspended between two layers of high-quality polymers that are both crystal clear and fully inert." What does this mean exactly? Is the coin actually sealed in the middle of a block of plastic?

[Mucius Scaevola]

"It can not be requested". So if you grade 10 coins, it's possible that you'll get them in different holders.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Welded? Yikes!

[John Conduitt]

It’s almost as good as…erm…not encapsulating them at all 🤣

[Heliodromus]

12 hours ago, CPK said:

"Suspended between two layers of high-quality polymers that are both crystal clear and fully inert." What does this mean exactly? Is the coin actually sealed in the middle of a block of plastic?

It seems it's basically like the cardboard/mylar coin holders, with the coin held in place by being squeezed by two sheets of plastic. Rather than stapling them closed they are "welding" them closed (i.e. heat sealing the plastic around the edge).

 

[TheTrachyEnjoyer]

So far, they haven’t slabbed trachys or torneses (at least the late silver I collect). As long as this doesn’t change, I am happy. I will rue the day people put the coins I enjoy in these

[dougsmit]

They will regret the 'It cannot be requested' decision and eventually offer it as an option.  I note they also say that coins will be photographed AFTER they are encapsulated which might be interesting to see.  I do wonder how much pressure is exerted on the thin, the cracked and the fragmented coins not to mention trachy, bractate or, the opposite, Akragas tooth coins previously unsuitable for slabbing.  Have you seen a slabbed sestertius that cracked its plastic for being a tad too thick?  I show below a few coins that would not be slabbed in the old system.  Fortunately few of them would sell for the price of their plastic. How many would be OK in the new?  I'll never know.  I hope others will report when they receive their first 'unrequested' holder.  If you drop the holder, will the coin shift/rotate/ break out?  I assume this is not just like those flexible holders that traps the coin between pliable sheets since those are not all that clear.  I believe Furryfrog Ivn has one of those?  

 

[AncientJoe]

I'm sure they've studied it but I still would not be very comfortable placing a coin between flexible plastic for long term storage. They can survive for centuries underground but man-made polymers can be very dangerous (PVC being the most egregious offender).

Lighthouse has a similar new offering - circular holders which can be re-opened with a flexible membrane touching the coin - and I nearly bought a bunch of them at the ANA show but their representative couldn't explain what variant of plastic was used for the part touching the coin.

[Ryro]

While we're on the subject of how awful the idea of entombing ancients, check out this encapsulated MSC that Heritage has up for sale:

You don't have to look that close to see BRONZE DISEASE! If the person that wins this doesn't take it out of that cell eventually they will have a pile of light neon green crap and no coin. 

I wonder if CNG locks these things up even when BD is present if requested by customer?

[Furryfrog02]

58 minutes ago, Ryro said:

While we're on the subject of how awful the idea of entombing ancients, check out this encapsulated MSC that Heritage has up for sale:

You don't have to look that close to see BRONZE DISEASE! If the person that wins this doesn't take it out of that cell eventually they will have a pile of light neon green crap and no coin. 

I wonder if CNG locks these things up even when BD is present if requested by customer?

Guarantee they don't care. They just want the insane money to put your tiny piece of metal into a plastic slab. 
When it does turn to neon green crap, you will pay to send it back to them to get it reholdered...

[sand]

Here's a Youtube video by TheCoinGeek, in which 2 of the coins that he ordered, are in the new NGC AirView slabs. The AirView part of the video, starts at 6:02. Myself, I am wary of the AirView slabs, for the reasons mentioned earlier in this thread. Pressure on the high points of the coin, and whether the plastic layers really are inert, and will stay inert for decades. I'm always wary, of any kind of plastic, even PVC free plastic.

 

[CPK]

1 hour ago, sand said:

Here's a Youtube video by TheCoinGeek, in which 2 of the coins that he ordered, are in the new NGC AirView slabs. The AirView part of the video, starts at 6:02. Myself, I am wary of the AirView slabs, for the reasons mentioned earlier in this thread. Pressure on the high points of the coin, and whether the plastic layers really are inert, and will stay inert for decades. I'm always wary, of any kind of plastic, even PVC free plastic.

 

Interesting.

How securely positioned is the coin, I wonder? Would the impact of dropping it shift its position? 

If it's done 100% perfectly then I can see it being a significant upgrade. I kind of like the look of it myself over the older ones. Not that I'm a big fan of slabs either way.

Edited September 27, 2022 by CPK

[red_spork]

It's good to see NGC trying a technique that allows you to view more of the coin. They've almost reached the pinnacle of protection and accessibility that is keeping your coins raw and handling them with your hands. I for one can't wait until they introduce the NGC HandView holder

[DonnaML]

The new format is certainly an improvement visually, and I imagine that it will make post-slabbing viewing and photography a lot easier.  (The one slabbed coin I ever bought, I couldn't even see well, never mind take a decent photo. Of course I broke it out shortly thereafter.) But even if this becomes an option one can choose, it doesn't tempt me to convert to Slabism. I don't need to enumerate all the philosophical, display, and storage issues (among others) that it doesn't cure.  Even apart from any concerns about the long-term effect of encasing a coin in soft plastic.  In that sense, it reminds me of the soft plastic holders inside little black boxes that Roma puts its coins in before sending them out.  I never keep them that way. 

[shanxi]

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/heritage/browse?a=2878&l=3226799

 

Completely decentered 😁

[DonnaML]

23 minutes ago, shanxi said:

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/heritage/browse?a=2878&l=3226799

 

Completely decentered 😁

Uh-oh! That was fast.

[Leo]

Here is a poem to NGC.

They might slab them in plastic,
or even clad it in amber.
For me, a coin in a slab,
Will be cracked by the hammer.

[CPK]

2 hours ago, shanxi said:

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/heritage/browse?a=2878&l=3226799

 

Completely decentered 😁

Yes, that's exactly what I would be worried about!

If all it is is a glorified cardboard flip, I'm less interested. I'm sure the materials are up to spec and the rest of the holder is probably very nice, but it doesn't seem like the revolutionary innovation they make it out to be!

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

All my slabs are birthday/Christmas presents, as the local coin shop has been on a slab kick.  I'm not a fan and I'd go so far to say that I view my slabbed coins as less desirable.  They shall all be freed once I get confidence enough to try some tools (or more likely, ask my tool-handy neighbor to help) on the slabs.  My 2022 favorite purchase, my Apsimar solidus, would look so much less shiny in a slab.  They just make the coins look cloudier and more distant.

People also don't seem to consider how bad the slabs will look in 5, 10, 25, 50 years, etc.

Mercifully, a couple of the really nice coins from the coin shop were pre-slab.

[Octavius]

 Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with Abafil, or Alberto Zecchi.

[LONGINUS]

Interesting post, @Kali

I used to submit my Judaean coins for grading and encapsulation but have given up the practice.

None of my Roman coins are slabbed.

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by LONGINUS

[Mucius Scaevola]

6 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

All my slabs are birthday/Christmas presents, as the local coin shop has been on a slab kick.  I'm not a fan and I'd go so far to say that I view my slabbed coins as less desirable.  They shall all be freed once I get confidence enough to try some tools (or more likely, ask my tool-handy neighbor to help) on the slabs.  My 2022 favorite purchase, my Apsimar solidus, would look so much less shiny in a slab.  They just make the coins look cloudier and more distant.

People also don't seem to consider how bad the slabs will look in 5, 10, 25, 50 years, etc.

Mercifully, a couple of the really nice coins from the coin shop were pre-slab.

There are videos on Youtube for that reason. It is very easy without tools. Knife and/or hammer are enough to free them. Tried it myself 😉

 

[red_spork]

Resurrecting this old thread because I recently picked up a coin in an airview holder, and you guys know I cracked it out. I think some of y'all will be surprised how its constructed like I was and maybe I can answer some of your questions:

The coin in the holder:

 

So at first glance looking at the holder I could tell that the white insert seemed to be two pieces with a void between them. I incorrectly assumed this was something similar to the cardboard and mylar window flips we're all familiar with:

 

I started cracking the slab by whacking it with a hammer. Bad idea. The coin immediately jumped across the slab. It's got a crack in it and it's a tiny little sestertius which are often fragile so I didn't want to put any undue stress. I carefully tapped the slab a few times to recenter it, then went to my vise and started squeezing on the edges. After about 10 minutes I finally broke the seal well enough to pry the slab apart. I was surprised when I pulled the white insert apart to find a little sealed capsule inside of it:

 

The inner capsule is a fairly rigid but bendable plastic and it's totally sealed around the edges there. I suspect it's the same material as saflips, just thicker. At any rate the only real way to remove the coin without putting any undue stress on it was to slowly cut around the edges of this capsule until I'd removed enough to pull it open and remove the coin. Another forum member I chatted with expressed concerns he had about cutting around larger coins and I kinda agree with him, I didn't like having to have a blade right up next to my coin and I had plenty of room to work with. What I found worked best was guitar fret cutters. They allow you to work slowly and only really cut the edge of the capsule. Highly recommend picking up a pair if you crack a lot of slabs.

 

FWIW I will say these slabs look great. They are way more impressive than any slab with prongs and address a lot of my issues with slabs from a physical standpoint. They also allow really good photos to be taken as the below photo shows. There is a little glare from the material but no prongs and if you didn't know any better you wouldn't know the coin was slabbed in the photo.

 

I don't know if there could be any ill effects from the coin being sealed between these two layers of material for years like that though, I'd be interested to see if there are any ill effects observed with a fragile coin in one of these things after a decade or more. This coin has probably been slabbed only a few months as I bought it from a dealer who bought it less than a month ago at an auction and the submission number indicates it's a pretty recent one. Will I be switching to keeping all of my coins in slabs? Obviously no but I'll give NGC credit that these things look great and will lead to a lot more slabbed coins with photos usable for academic publications and things(cause nothing looks worse than "prongs" on a black and white plate photo) which I think is awesome. Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll do my best to answer.