extant4cell Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Is there a safe way to open a slab? I will be interested to know, so I could free a few of my Russian coins... I post it here, because in other sections people may feel strange about me getting a coin out, but I'm sure you will understand me here... Thank you in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kopeikin Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Your question does not feel strange at all. Here is the tool you will need to open a slab. The larger tool is the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexbq2 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 In my limited and reckless experience a Swiss Army knife works pretty good! As I recall I sawed through a portion of the seam on the top of the slab, stuck a screwdriver in the opening and was able to gently crack the rest of the seam all the way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgorS Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 A friend of mine bangs with a hammer lightly along the perimeter on the edge. At some point slab cracks open into two halves. I think I did it once too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kopeikin Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 A friend of mine bangs with a hammer lightly along the perimeter on the edge. At some point slab cracks open into two halves. I think I did it once too. IgorS, this way definately has potential. When I do it next time I certainly will try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extant4cell Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 I like the picture of pliers nice touch! I was hoping there was some trick that would let you keep it intact. Some slabs have some sort of squarish holes on their sides along the line where 2 parts of the slab join. I thought there may have been a reason for these holes... If you don't know any other ways, I'll try an old Russian method: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexbq2 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 That looks like a lot of work! Just use your car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extant4cell Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 I actually don't have a pathological hatred of slabs. My car better not run over the coins, that could be tragic. I was hoping to find an easy method of careful slab opening for coin inspection. If the edge is nothing special, I would be happy to put it all back together and seal it in a slab again... I am not as radical with my methods as you may think, I am a bit of a conservator... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexbq2 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 You aren't suppose to be able to temper with slabs. They are heat sealed I believe. If you open a slab you sort of make it worthless, as there is no way to prove that the coin inside was not replaced with a lower grade or a fake. That's what puzzles me about certificates given out by GIM. They have a black and white picture of the coin, and that's about it. When buying a coin with such a certificate, how does one actually know that it is the coin that was presented to GIM, or that this is not a fake copy of a certificate? Also GIM does not take any financial liability for making mistakes, and apparently they can recall/cancel their certificates at will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extant4cell Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Someone mentioned to me that slabs are sealed with ultrasound, don't know if that's true or not, but their can not use anything toxic as that would damage the coin in a long run. The following is only my opinion, that is based on my experiences. The slab and the certificate attached to it are there to serve the preservation of the coin. Opening a slab will not make the coin worthless, it will be a bit more difficult to prove that this coin belongs to this certificate, but not as difficult as it may seam as all major grading companies scan each slab and keep it in their data base. You can actually check visually if the coin in a slab is the same as on their scan. All you need is to enter the cert. number on their web-site for confirmation and compare it against the picture. Really, the certificate is given to a coin, not to a slab, so even if you take it out of the slab you can still refer to this service for verification of coin's authenticity and grade (if you like), as long as the number of the certificate has been kept by you after you broke the coin free. Now, GIM is the same as D. Sear's coin authentication / identification service. Only D. Sear is a specialist in ancient numismatics, where as GIM in Russian coins. The idea is the same, making a quality Black and White picture of the coin and authenticating (and identifying if need be) the coin according to this picture. The truth is that it is easier to do this with ancient coins as they all have their distinct character, where as Russian coin that are a bit more modern may be pretty identical with each other. This makes certificate less useful for such coins. But if coin has distinct imperfections, it's pretty easy. The slab can not guaranty that coin is authentic as there are a lot of fake slabbed coins around, it's comparing the coin in a slab with the same coin's scan on the authentication / grading company's site that may guaranty that to a degree. In any case, for the experienced collector it's easier to establish if the coin is authentic or not if collector can actually touch the coin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiho Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 I put the slab in an old (clean) sock and then place it lengthwise into my vise. Tighten until you hear it crack twice, remove and it should now open fairly easily. (The sock keeps the coin from rolling under the hot water heater if I tighten the vise too much.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRP Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 I actually don't have a pathological hatred of slabs. My car better not run over the coins, that could be tragic. I was hoping to find an easy method of careful slab opening for coin inspection. If the edge is nothing special, I would be happy to put it all back together and seal it in a slab again... I am not as radical with my methods as you may think, I am a bit of a conservator... You wouldn't want to damage your tire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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