To me these two types of slabbed coins along with the old NGC "Fatty" Slabs are by far the best of the older slabs. And the oldest slabs from the oldest third party graders that go by the name...

Greetings Again Collectors,

Not sure why, but I'm in a writing mood that I have plotted out at least a couple dozen+ more journal topics to write on. And more seem to be popping up at the rate of several a day. So many in fact, I have gotten to the point that I am having to start a list, so that I don't forget any of them, like I have done with so many ones I have thought of in the past.

Most of you know of the OGH's (old green holders) and most of you know that PCGS started in late 1989-early 1990. And the NGC fatty slabs as they are known, started about the same time. These are the NGC slabs that are quite aggravating when one tries to stack them with the newer NGC slabs. I know NGC has had different slabs ending up with the 4-prong inside white plastic pieces that allow the collector to view the edge of the coin easier. What many do not know is that the what I call, the third, "third party grader" named ANACS was the first third party grader to come into existence. Not sure what date exactly, but it was maybe as early as 1988 or early 1989. Anyway it was the first, and can be easily recognized as a holder that is much smaller than other holders, with the first PCGS rattler holder maybe being the closest in size, at that particular time. Both NGC & PCGS followed shortly thereafter, and later many other "wannabe's"

Anyway, in my usual long "round about" way of posting, the point of this post is for collectors of any coin series, take special notice of the four holders:

One- The small white 1st generation ANACS slab.

Two- The again, very small 1st generation PCGS "Rattler" slab.

Three- The 2nd, 3rd, & 4th generation regular size compared to today, old green holder slabs by PCGS. The only difference I can see is the color shade of green that these green labels have. I had a coin on eBay that I called a 2nd generation OGH and another eBayer wrote me and said that the OGH I had listed was really a fourth generation PCGS OGH. Possibly there has only been a total of four OGH's from PCGS counting the OGH Rattler slab, or four green label slabs after the Rattler. I don't have a degree in PCGS slabs so as far as I'm concerned, there's only been two OGH's from PCGS, The Rattler and the regular size green label slab. Whewwww.....

Four- And the last but surely not the least, the old Fatty Slab from NGC which I have always been able to tell apart by two things. First they don't stack worth a , & they have only six digits in the prefix of the serial number. As in 587346-003. And they are one of my top favorites.

Each and every one of these old slabbed coins were slabbed when graders were a great deal more strict. As in, if you know your series very well, and I mean VERY WELL, you stand a very good chance of obtaining a very nice coin that at today's standards, could very well be, an under graded example. Be on the lookout for these slabs. But not all will contain an under-graded coin inside.

But at the same time, remember the "Cardinal Rule" in always buying the coin, rather than buying the slab. Just because a coin resides in an old NGC Fatty slab doesn't nessasarily mean you automatically have an under graded coin. It's just that the chances are better, than maybe with another newer slab. This is where knowing your personal coin series, and knowing what an MS-65 looks like or a 64 or any other grade for that matter is supposed to look like.

There are other obscure third party graders that I personally have had very good luck with. The best being a gold coin in a PCI graded slab. The next best was a regular size old green holder slab. I actually posted a journal last summer titled something with "Crack-Outs can be very Rewarding" in the title, and I show a pic of a rare $10 New Orleans Mint coin dated 1882-O that was in an OGH regular size slab that was graded VF-35 and when I saw the coin, I was positive the coin was vastly undergraded in that slab. So rather than be happy with a very nice OGH $10 New Orleans Mint coin, I cracked it out and sent it in to NGC, hoping for as high, as maybe an AU-53 to AU-55 grade. With a very slight possibility of making that grade right next to mint state with an AU-58. But when the coin came back, I was pleased with the grade of AU-50 NGC figured that the coin was. VF-35 to AU-50 is a very worthy three point jump, grade-wise, on a very rare coin that only saw 8,350 coins minted total. And NGC at last look had only graded a total of 164 coins from that mintage of a little over eight thousand coins. In that post I show a pic of the OGH paper insert reading VF-35 along with that same coin sitting in a very conservative, what I believe to be still an under-graded coin in an AU-50 new NGC slab. As I said in that post, that AU-50 is where that coin will stay, as I am not one to get greedy, or take BIG chances. Because as I said in that post, and I say again, playing that "Crack Out" game can very easily be a double edged sword that can cause you to be cut, and bleed to death, before you realize you've ever been cut.

The ONLY WAY YOU CAN HOPE TO BE SUCESSFUL IN THAT GAME IS TO KNOW YOUR SERIES WELL, and know it well enough to spot an undergraded coin. And then you still may lose, and have like I have, get your coins back inside a purple details only slab because the grader says the coin was improperly cleaned, or the obverse was improperly cleaned. Even though you never touched the coin except to carefully crack it out, slip it carefully into a 2X2 plastic flip & send it off for grading. I have cracked out newer NGC coins and resubmitted them untouched to NGC and had them come back with purple slabs on account of issues. I still have never been able to figure that one out. This only happened once with a 12-coin submission of which six or seven coins were gold coins and I was litterally THROWN UNDER THE BUS! This came close to ending my crack out days, until I submitted the same coins again, with a little trick I'll share in a later post, and every one of these coins came back with a one grade upgrade except one, and it stayed the same grade. This re-newed my spirits and the 1882-O $10 gold coin was after this. So IM BACK....

The always "buy the slab and not the coin could not be any more important in this game, as I call it. I have found newer slabbed coins that we're undergraded examples and have had decent luck with a few one point up-ticks, a few that stayed the same, and one that lost a point the first time. But my little trick I do brought it back up a notch to where it actually started. Needless to say, I left that coin alone where it was.

This tactic is not for beginners or for the faint of heart. First and foremost you have to study your coin series you like extremely well. And know this tactic does not work, or I should say I haven't tried this on a coin newer than 1963. Not to say it couldn't be done. But it's doubtful. Walker halves, Standing Liberty Quarters, Barber coinage are ones I haven't tried personally, except a bad experiance on a Walker Half. But my specialties are, any gold coin, preferably coined before 1908 are the coins I feel most comfortable with. Really only the Liberty Gold coin series is the one I feel I have a degree in. But there are others here at the C. S. that have pr