FREE AT LAST: Leave him entombed, or set him free?

[expat]

His brother, Caracalla, his Mother and his Father, are also AR denarius. I purchased this one because of the centering and I liked the look of it. Please enter your vote in the poll, and any comments on your decision will be greatly appreciated.

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by expat

[ambr0zie]

I voted "leave him be". Generally speaking, I am not a slabbing fan. For ancients, the only advantage I see that the coin was inspected by a specialist.

Although I am afraid of forgeries and I could be tricked by a clever fake, like many other collectors, I find the argument "I only buy slabbed coins, the market is flooded with forgeries so I don't risk" to be rather funny. Everybody does what they want with their money. 

But I voted that option mainly because, even if I don't like this thought, we are just temporary custodians of our collection. One day each coin will be sold. During or life time or not. This might sound spooky, but the other option - the coins will be lost because of a catastrophe - is worse. Slabbing costs money. Slabbing will probably mean a buyer will be found quicker. And, also probably, the price will be slightly higher. You also probably paid a little more than the value of the raw coin. Breaking the slab and freeing the coin means that you are losing some actual money. 

99,9999% I will never send a coin or banknote for grading, even if some (mostly from my modern collection) would worth it. And in my entire collection I have a grand total of 1 slabbed coin. From a smaller grading company. Using Sheldon scale. 
I bought the coin because I really wanted the type. My initial thought was to break the slab but I kept it. For the same reasons I explained. 

Edited September 29, 2023 by ambr0zie

[Qcumbor]

Freedom !!!!

Q

[expat]

I actually got it at, in my eyes, an auction bargain. I paid $80 (75.69 euros) for the winning bid. Like you, I am thinking about the future, when I am no longer looking after some of our history. Thank you for your thoughts @ambr0zie about the subject.

[Kali]

Considering the coin type, I would free it.

[Heliodromus]

If the rest of your collection, or associated coins, are unslabbed, then set him free ! Otherwise, let him be !

 

[Valentinian]

I store my Roman imperial coins in the bank arranged by emperor, chronologically, in boxes that fit their flips. They are not slabbed. If I got one slabbed, where would I store it? I break it out, save the flip inserts, and store the coin in a flip in the box like all the others. 

So, I voted to "Set him free."

[John Conduitt]

Very nice coin. Normally, I wouldn't be too worried about setting it free. You should probably free it if a slab would fit awkwardly in your collection or you have the usual objections to slabs preventing your enjoyment, but otherwise it doesn't hurt to leave it there.

But this slab is a little beyond the usual. It states it is from the SPQR Collection. That is one of the blander names I've seen chosen by those that use slabs as a marketing gimmick. It looks like Pars Coins slabbed a load of coins and have been auctioning them over the last 4 months, hoping to get more than if they were raw. Shudder.

As Ambrozie says, we're just temporary custodians of our coins. But how horrific would it be if in 100 years someone gets this coin and wonders about the mighty SPQR. A famous numismatist? A celebrated personage of the 21st Century? No, SPQR is a McDonald's wrapper. We don't want it polluting the environment for centuries to come.

It might cost you a little in resale value if you free it, but buying coins isn't about profit and if you free it, you can be more sure the next buyer isn't an investor.

The bright side is that for the price you paid, their gamble definitely didn't pay off. Great purchase.

Edited September 29, 2023 by John Conduitt

[DonnaML]

I would free it as well and save the inserts. For that coin, I doubt the slab would add anything meaningful to the resale value. Especially with that ridiculous "SPQR" name! Plus I think a slab detracts from a coin's eye appeal 99.9% of the time, never mind making it impossible ever to take a good photograph.

Speaking of ridiculous names, I just bought a slabbed Hadrian denarius originally sold by Heritage a year or so ago, labeled as belonging to the "Historical Scholar Collection." How pretentious can one possibly get? So I plan to remove it from its slab as soon as I receive it.

[ambr0zie]

6 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

"Historical Scholar Collection."

Perhaps this is the real name of the collector. Mister Historical Scholar. Histy, for friends. Not yet known publicly but this will soon happen. 

Of course this is a joke, but don't underestimate some people's imagination when it comes to choosing names for children. I saw a Facebook post today on a local lost and found objects group. Somebody found a (real) ID card belonging to a certain Alexandru-Theodor Macedon. 

[kirispupis]

This is one of two coins I bought slabbed and freed. When I first bought it, poor Ptolemy Keraunos was so confined he'd stopped telling the tales of how he murdered his sister's children and the haunting details of stabbing Seleukos Nikator in the back. He was most unhappy.

Now, he's free to wander among the other coins in the album, though I have to keep him away from my Gallic imitations. The stories now flow easier and I've even caught him quarreling with my Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II examples and once chasing after my Ptolemy Epigonos...

KINGS of MACEDON. Ptolemy Keraunos. 281-279 BCE
AR Tetradrachm
In the name and types of Alexander III. Amphipolis mint. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; monograms in left field and below throne.
Price 537; Mathisen, Administrative –. 

[expat]

I must admit it would remain slabbed if it were not for the SPQR collection on the slab label. Besides, Geta may tell me the secrets between him and his brother. I will find out this weekend.

[robinjojo]

And there is the great conundrum faced by many ancient coin collectors, almost biblical in nature:  "And there upon cameth to the temple a shekel encloseth in unholy plastic, and met by a great gnashing of teeth!"  Well, I'm not going to gnash my teeth.  I do that too much when I'm asleep, and besides, I'm retired without dental insurance as a benefit, so why look for more trouble?

Getting back to the coin, ultimately it's your call, but personally I would keep it in the slab, especially if I think that I may sell it in the near to mid term, since slabbed coins seem to attract higher bids at auction.  Otherwise I would break it out and keep the label.   

Edited September 29, 2023 by robinjojo

[sand]

Because the question is "What would you do?", I voted to remove the coin from the slab. I keep all of my coins in trays, except for my Lincoln cents and a few US and English coins, which are in blue Whitman albums. None of my coins are slabbed. A slabbed coin would not look good, and it would take up a lot of space, in my ancient Roman coin tray, which has 48 coins in it, arranged chronologically.

However, before I removed the coin from the slab, I would take photos of both sides of the coin in the slab, so that I would have the NGC Ancients slab ID number. Because, one can lookup photos of a previously NGC Ancients slabbed coin on the NGC Ancients web site, via the slab ID number. I've done this, for all of my previously NGC Ancients slabbed coins. The slab ID number is more important than the slab, to me.

As far as I know, an ancient coin in a velvet tray, will be protected just as well, as an ancient coin in an NGC Ancients slab. Perhaps better. I don't know, how well the rubber and plastic, of an NGC Ancients slab, will last after 100 years, 200 years, 300 years, and so on. Perhaps a slab's plastic and rubber would damage the coin, eventually. I don't know. Perhaps the velvet of a tray would damage the coin, eventually. I don't know.

I will pay a bit extra, for an NGC Ancients slabbed coin, all other things being equal, because I highly value the opinion of the NGC Ancients employees, regarding whether an ancient coin is authentic versus fake, and whether an ancient coin is smoothed or tooled or has a fake patina. It's similar to a coin which is sold by a dealer who is known to be good at detecting fakes, or a coin which is sold by an auction house which is known to be good at detecting fakes. However, I will always remove a coin from a slab.

Edited September 30, 2023 by sand

[Roman Collector]

I would crack it out of the slab were it mine. My collection is designed for coins in 2x2 flips and slabs disrupt the uniformity of the whole. While a very nice coin -- high grade and well-centered -- it's not a coin that slabs add value to and the "SPQR" provenance means nothing.

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by Roman Collector
I have OCD

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Free it! 

[AncientOne]

Crack it open and then keep the tag for the flip.

[expat]

I will show him freed from his tomb and re-united with his immediate Family in the tray later. Have to get ready for work now.

[expat]

Home with the Family again.

Bit rushed with my camera but here he is in a tray

[Dafydd]

I've covered this before but I moved from coins to medals because of reputable ( ha ha) dealers downgrading coins when I tried to improve them. Medal values are based on historical association not condition in most instances.

In recent years I have bought several modern ( 18th and 19th Century) coins in slabs as I was lucky with low ball offers. They will remain in their caskets because sometimes their slabbing cost more than the coin so it would be foolish to remove them and then expose myself to subjective "appraisal" and "grading".

My genuine fear of buying and then feeling compelled to cracking out an ancient  coin from a plastic slab would be damaging it. 

Ancients are different . To connect with history is fantastic and the physical connection with an artefact held by someone 2000 years ago is electric. Contact with coins does not have to damage them if you are sensible. Body oils are acidic so be sensible, dry hands always, and possibly a cloth or gloves.

Keep in plastic and you lose the connection. Unless you rub it like a charm, physics dictate you  probably won't wear it, this needs a lot of friction and chemical  simply hold it by the edge in most instances.

This is my latest ancient received today from Denmark. You can see more details on "post your latest ancient" . My hands were clean and dry when I took the photograph.

In conclusion I would say slabs are all about money. If you invest in modern coins,and  are an investor and not a collector, you need them. If you are interested in the artefact as a remnant of history, they are not needed.

My opinion is a bit sweeping but Slabs = investor or not prepared to research and need third party confirmation. Raw = collector. As with everything, there is a middle ground and there is an inevitability that anyone involved with coins will be presented with both raw and slabbed. I prefer raw.

Edited September 30, 2023 by Dafydd
Typo

[Prieure de Sion]

Just don't leave him out of it 😄 

[thenickelguy]

The only ancient I have in a slab is a Geta. It had remained there and probably will even though he was innocent. Caracalla should be the one locked up,

It's totally a decision you have to make. One thing for sure, it is protected from damage. If you aren't married to it, I think it would sell better in the slab.