Crossovers: What methods do TPGs use for crackingout the old slab?

[GoYankees]

Inquiring minds want to know.

[HaydenTubbs]

I don't know how the TPGs do it,but a hammer and chisel have always worked for me...

[midwest]

PCGS says they use a big coustom saw that sucks up dust. link

 

personally a vice works for me. JUst cracked an ike out today from PCGS. A 1972 F15

[GoYankees]

PCGS says they use a big coustom saw that sucks up dust. link

 

personally a vice works for me. JUst cracked an ike out today from PCGS. A 1972 F15

 

Thanks for the link MW!

 

I wonder what NGC and ANACS use?

[rexcat]

personally a vice works for me

 

You got Midwest.

 

I've only removed two coins from their holders and the wood vise in my basement worked great. I held the slab by the long edges with it laying horizonal in the middle of the jaws. Apply some pressure and the slab will crack around all four edges near where the two halves are joined. With a little super glue I could put it back together and it would be hard to see, after seeing this I always check the edges of slabs closely.

 

BTW, Don't you think that you're sorta young to have a "vice" little dude.

[gmarguli]

I'm not sure what NGC uses, but I believe they just break off an end of the slab probably with plyers.

 

A while back I mistakenly received back some mutilated slabs from them for some crossovers. Usually they only send back the insert.

 

[braddick]

What? No PCI crossovers?!

[gmarguli]

What? No PCI crossovers?!

 

No, but I recently cracked out two ACG coins and sent them to NGC. One graded the same and the other upgraded two points.

 

I just don't see many PCI coins and most of the stuff I do see is fairly modern coins or the gold label stuff.

[braddick]

Interesting. I just had two NGC coins crossover to ACG. One graded the same and the other downgraded two points.

[midijab-migration]

I cracked out a Double Eagle in PCI holder a while back using the vice method. Gotta go real sssllloooowwww. The slab shattered and almost ran a sharp edge into the coin itself!

[BankNote1]

I use a hammer and hit the slab on its side. I just tap all around the holder most will come apart easily.

[GoYankees]

Curly: "Vice? I have no vice. I'm as pure as the driven snow."

 

Moe: "Well, you drifted." SLAP!

 

I find PCI holders to be the easiest to crack out.

For me, PCGS holders are the toughest. (I've never tried cracking out a SEGS slab but I heard dynamite works.)

[EZ_E]

I'm not sure what NGC uses, but I believe they just break off an end of the slab probably with plyers.

 

A while back I mistakenly received back some mutilated slabs from them for some crossovers. Usually they only send back the insert.

 

 

 

 

I find that incredible!! How reckless!! There is a big risk to damaging the coin that-a-way. I don't think that I'll be sending any slabbed coins to NGC!

 

I've broken out alot of coins. NGC slabs are much easier to crack than PCGS. I usually use a swiss army knife and tap it along the seams going 180 degrees around the holder. I then reverse it and do the same getting all four corners. The slab then separates very easily. I use a light-weight hammer to do this. On PCGS slabs, however, it is much more difficult to get a bite on the seams. I can put the PCGS slab with an edge hanging over the edge of a table and break it off using the same light-weight hammer. Patience is the key.

[gmarguli]

I find that incredible!! How reckless!! There is a big risk to damaging the coin that-a-way. I don't think that I'll be sending any slabbed coins to NGC!

 

I'm sure that NGC has done enough of these that they're pretty good at cracking them out.

 

 

 

I've broken out alot of coins. NGC slabs are much easier to crack than PCGS. I usually use a swiss army knife and tap it along the seams going 180 degrees around the holder. I then reverse it and do the same getting all four corners. The slab then separates very easily. I use a light-weight hammer to do this. On PCGS slabs, however, it is much more difficult to get a bite on the seams. I can put the PCGS slab with an edge hanging over the edge of a table and break it off using the same light-weight hammer. Patience is the key.

 

For NGC & ANACS slab, I'll just hit the sides of them with a hammer a few times and they usually split in half. PCGS are much tougher. I now use the claw end of the hammer and give the slab a few hard hits with it right around the bottom of the insert. The head of the slab with the insert will come off. The I stick a flat head screwdriver inside the slab and twist. Usually the slab will pop open enough that you can slide the coin and plastic ring around it out of the slab without it touching the outer shell. Just be careful when twisting the screwdriver. Plastic shards can fly off and if you're not pointing the screwdriver outward, you can damage the coin.

[IGWT]

You all need to take up woodworking as a second hobby . . . then you'll have an excuse to buy a bandsaw (hard to justify the purchase if opening slabs is its only purpose). I don't know if a bandsaw is the type of saw used by PGCS; but, I've got to say, it's the right tool for the job.

[EZ_E]

I find that incredible!! How reckless!! There is a big risk to damaging the coin that-a-way. I don't think that I'll be sending any slabbed coins to NGC!

 

I'm sure that NGC has done enough of these that they're pretty good at cracking them out.

 

 

Greg, you use "NGC" quite generically. Who actually breaks these coins out? A slightly better than minimum wage worker? It is probably just a step above the third butter cutter on the mess deck.

[gmarguli]

Greg, you use "NGC" quite generically. Who actually breaks these coins out? A slightly better than minimum wage worker? It is probably just a step above the third butter cutter on the mess deck.

 

I'm not sure. However, I've been told by several people who work inside different grading services that some of the "line people" make decent money. What decent is to these people, i don't really know.

 

I look at it this way, when I submit a coin for crossover (and I usually will just break the coin out myself and submit raw as it is easier), I place a value of the coin on the submission form. If NGC or any grading company damages my coin when removing it from the slab, they will compensate me based on many factors, including the value I have stated. If they trust the person cracking the coin out of the slab knowing that they are financially on the hook, so should I.

 

If I didn't trust them to compensate me should they damage my coins, I wouldn't submit to them (See: PCGS: Fingerprints).

[EZ_E]

Fair enough.

[KurtHorn]

For me, NGC, ANACS, PCI, NTC, first generation Rattler PCGS and ICG come out like a clam by hitting the sides of the slab all the way around against concrete. (I bought a concrete block just for this purpose.)

 

Newer PCGS need an end clipper start with clipping all 4 corners. Patience, patience...

 

SEGS are really nasty. The softer gummier plastic can be a real struggle. The only coin I've ever ruined was trying to get it out of a SEGS slab. 1919-D Walker in an AU 55 slab (really AU details cleaned net EF 45) I finally resorted to bolt cutter and hit the coin dead center of the obverse when it slipped. It's now in an ANACS net VF 20 holder somewhere.

 

Someone told me you should stick the SEGS slabs in the freezer overnight to make them brittle first. I have never tried it as my real feeling is that I just don't want to mess with their holders ever again. Can you blame me?

 

ACG coins I'd probably just avoid or stomp on anyway.

[BankNote1]

Do you truly have to breakout the coin from the slab??? I have had fairly good success with just sending the coin in the holder.

[Beijim]

I recommend a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel bit. Very precise and none of the violence that might cause accidents involving damaged eyes, hands, and coins.

 

Beijim