NGC Slab Varieties

[Conder101]

NGC 1 The infamous “Black NGC”. Although the black holder looks smashing against a white silver or a gold coin, a brown copper or a heavily toned coin didn’t look as good. Dark large cents practically disappeared. The black insert was only used for approximately two months during the period of September through November of 1987. And I don't have the photos backwards. On this variety the side with the logo was intended to be the front of the slab and the label was to be on the back. From my understanding, this was thanks to a marketing consultant who insisted that it was of paramount importance to keep your logo in front of the customer at all times and therefor it was more important than the coin information.

 

 

 

 

NGC 2 When they dumped the black insert in favor of the white one they kept the same paper label that was used on NGC 1. It quickly became apparent that a plain white label was not going to work. This on and the next combined were used for an even shorter time than the black insert.

 

 

 

 

NGC 2.1 This variety should actually precede NGC 2. It has the company logo applied to the insert inside the slab shell. Starting on NGC 2 the logo was applied to the outside of the shell. (If you look at the picture of the back of NGC 2 you can see the shadow cast on the insert by the logo on the outer shell.)

 

 

 

 

NGC 2.9 This is a rather strange variety. It is a mule with the obverse of NGC 3 with the border on the label, with the reverse of NGC 2.1 with the logo impressed on the center insert INSIDE the slab. So far only one example has been seen and it may just be an error slab. I have photos of it but I haven't scanned them yet.

 

 

 

 

NGC 3 After the first few very briefly lasting varieties this one lasted for some time. The holder is the same as NGC 2 but the new bordered labels had arrived and as you can see the holder is much more attractive than the stark white of the [NGC 2[/b] and 2.1. This variety was begun in late 1987 or January of 1988 and lasted until the PCGS counterfeiting scare of late 1989 caused the adoption of holograms as a security measure on most slabs.

 

 

 

 

NGC 4 The heat stamped logo found on the earlier slabs has now been replaced with a new hologram that covers the full width of the slab. There is no barcode on the front label. Put into use after the PCGS counterfeit slab scare in August of 1989. The number actually covers two varieties. The early ones came with a green border and the later ones with a brown border My problem is I'm colorblind and I can't tell the two apart so this information comes from contributors.

 

 

 

 

NGC 5 This was the next stage in security. A machine readable bar code has been added to the front label below the serial number. I’m not sure yet exactly when this variety first started or when it ended. It did last for at least several years and is the most common variety encountered when a coin in an NGC “old holder” is offered. (Possibly 92 to 95?) This is the last of the "No Line Fattie "holders.

 

 

 

 

NGC 6 This was a very brief transitional variety. It has the full width hologram that was used on NGC 4 and 5 but it is used with the “divided" or "keyed" insert. This one was apparently used in 1996 only and for how long I am not sure.

 

 

 

 

NGC 7 Used starting approximately 1997 it lasted until August 2000 when it was replaced for a four week period by NGC 8. In the first edition of the Slabbook I said that they returned to this variety after NGC 8. This was incorrect. See NGC 8.1 for the explanation.

 

 

 

 

NGC 8 Very similar to the previous variety. The serial numbers have been reduced in size and moved from above the barcode to beneath it. This proved to be very unpopular and NGC 8 lasted only for about four weeks in August and Sept of 2000.

 

 

 

 

NGC 8.1 Originally I thought that when NGC 8 was discontinued they switched back to NGC 7. But recently another slab collector approached me and pointed out that the slabs that came afterwards had a different hologram. On NGC 8 the hologram had been made larger. NGC 8.1 has the label of NGC 7 and the new larger hologram of NGC 8. Used from Sept 2000 to July 2001.

 

No picture available at this time.

 

 

 

NGC 9 Similar to NGC 7 but the bottom border of the label has been thickened and the name of the company is printed there. This is the first time the name has appeared on the front label. This variety first appeared in July of 2001.

 

 

 

 

NGC 10 This slab variety was introduced on July 1st 2003. The front label is little changed except for the name on the bottom border being replaced by the company’s initials and website. The hologram on the reverse has also been changed giving it a blue color. The company initials now appear to the right of the scales symbol in place of the company name which is now placed below these symbols. In the bottom half of the label we see the old “lamp of knowledge” logo of the ANA and a statement that NGC is the official grading service of the ANA. This slab was to be short lived because the ANA had recently adopted a new logo and had requested that all users of the ANA logos switch to the new one by Aug 1st 2003. If NGC had gone along with that then this slab would have had a production of one month.

 

 

 

 

NGC 11 These showed up as a new feature from NGC around August 1st of 2003. NGC will now slab entire sets in one holder. It is unclear as of yet whether each coin will be individually graded or if they will only slab matched sets. The set shown below is the first example I saw and it uses the same label style as NGC 10. Three weeks later NGC ran a full page ad in Coin World promoting them but the set shown in that ad used a label similar to NGC 13 with the company name written out on the bottom border and the date, type, and grade in a bold font. (The set in the Coin World was an NGC 11.5. The set shown here was a promotional set with no back label. On the actual production slabs a hologram label like that seen on NGC 13 is used.)

 

 

 

 

NGC 11.5 The NGC website on the bottom of the label proved to be unpopular and was removed about three weeks after NGC 10 and 11 were introduced. The company name took its place on the bottom of the border and the date, type and grade (but not the serial number) are all in a bold font. This slab probably began in Sept 2003.

 

 

 

 

NGC 12 In July 2003 NGC began certifying GSA CC dollars in the original government holders instead of cracking them out. This was done because there is a segment of the collecting community that appreciates the historical tie to the stories of the Treasury silver dollar rush of the sixties and the GSA sales of the seventies that the holder provided. Removing them from the holders makes them indistinguishable from all the other silver dollars out there. These collectors would pay a premium for the dollars in the original holders but still wished for them to be certified. To accommodate them NGC used tamper resistant seals over the top and bottom of the holder and a band that went around the slab just below the coin. The seal on the back has the brushed finish behind the NGC logo and the ANA Lamp of Knowledge logo like that seen on NGC 10 – 13.

 

Then in late 2003 this certification method was extended to the 40% silver proof Eisenhower dollars as well.

 

 

 

 

NGC 13 First appearing on August 18th 2003 this was the result of negative comments on the label design of NGC 10. The bold font for the grade was retained but the new logo and website were dropped from the bottom of the label and the company name was restored. Used till Nov 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NGC 14 When the ANA adopted their new crescent logo on July 1, 2003 they requested that all dealers and organizations using the Lamp of Knowledge logo to change over to the new one by August 1st. NGC though had just redesigned their logo and it used the old ANA logo. In November of 2003 they finally got around to changing over to the new logo. The change in the ANA logo is the only difference between this slab and [/b]NGC 13[/b].

 

 

 

 

NGC 15 This is similar to the first two multi-coin holders (NGC 11 and NGC 11.5) but the new ANA crescent logo replaces the old lamp of knowledge logo on the reverse label.

 

 

 

 

NGC 16 In November of 2003 NGC began using the new ANA “Crescent” logo that had been adopted back in July. This is the same hologram style that appears on NGC 14 and 15. Take care not to confuse it with NGC 24. On this variety NGC had not yet received PNG’s endorsement as their official grading service.

 

 

 

 

NGC 17 On November 18th 2004 NGC added the PNG logo to a newly redesigned hologram that covered most of the back label area listing themselves as the official grading service of the PNG. These lasted till Feb 2008.

 

 

 

 

NGC 17X In August of 2007 counterfeit NGC slabs containing fake Bust and Trade dollars began appearing on eBay. These could be spotted by font differences on the front label and design and spelling errors on the hologram. After detailed study NGC placed a page on their website in Jan 2008 detailing these differences. These images come from teir announcement page found here http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=954

I highly recommend that you check up the information there.

 

 

 

Here are close up of the front label of the genuine (first) and fake (second) labels.

 

 

 

Here are the holograms in the same order, real then fake.

 

 

 

Here are blowups of the PNG logo. Not the mis-spelling on the fake, and interestingly the much better rendition of the PNG initials on the fake.

 

 

 

 

[Zoins]

Great post Conder! I learned a lot and it's very timely given the new changes coming about.

 

NGC 4: BTW NGC MS64 197174-011 looks green to me.

 

My impression is that you get several days to edit posts on these boards.

[kryptonitecomics]

(worship)

 

Conder is responsibile for this purchase....

 

 

[Zoins]

(worship)

 

Conder is responsibile for this purchase....

 

 

Sweet coin and slab! Love those fatties!

[bsshog40]

Great Slab history there Conder!!!!!!

[James_OldeTowne]

Mike, awesome post. A few months ago, I was trying to contact you - I'd like to purchase a copy of your book.

[Conder101]

This is another reason why I didn't want posts to the thread before I finished it. I apparently ran into a maximum post size limit and I had to split the variety listing between two posts which unfortunately now have some five other posts stuck in the middle between them.

 

 

NGC 18 This is a very rare slab type. At the Silver Dollar show in October of 2004 NGC experimented with making all of the text on the front label in a bold font, date, mint, type, grade and serial number. The reverse hologram is the same as that seen on NGC 17. It was soon decided though that this was not visually appealing and it was not continued after the show ended. Only those coins submitted for walkthrough service at the show received these labels. Coins received too late to finish walkthrough or those coins submitted for lower tier services that would be taken back to NGC did not get them. This means that total production for the variety was probably only two to three thousand slabs, and you know what happens to a lot of the slabs that get submitted for walkthrough at a show. A significant portion don’t make the grade the dealer wants and they get cracked and resubmitted for another try. Probably many more have been cracked out in the years since then for upgrade attempts and crossovers. The number of survivors probably doesn’t amount to more than a few hundred examples. Produced Oct 2004, three days only.

 

 

 

 

 

NGC 19 In early 2005 Bowers and Merena sold off the last of the Eliasberg collections, his collection of foreign gold coins. All of the coins in the collection were graded by NGC but they were not slabbed. Instead NGC created their one and only photocertificate. Unfortunately they didn’t do a very good job with them and all of the photos I’ve seen are slightly out of focus. These certificates also do not carry the normal NGC guarantee. If the coin pictured on the certificate turns out to be fake, NGC’s liability was limited to the value of the coin or $100, whichever was less.

 

If collecting of slabs ever becomes more popular, this will turn out to be a very hot item. The Eliasberg foreign gold collection only amounted to about four hundred items. After the auction NGC would accept the coins with the certificate and a reholdering fee, and they would place the coin in a regular NGC slab with the full NGC guarantee. A GREAT many of these four hundred certificates were lost in this manner. The NGC 19 will eventually take it’s place as another one of the great rarities of the slab/certificate varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

NGC 20 This holder was first introduced in 2004. It was kind of a specialty item that was intended to be used for those coins with lettered or special edges. Most people have never seen these because they never really promoted them and never made them in more than one size. That size was specifically designed to hold double eagles and other than a few bust halves the only thing they ever put in them were 1907 high relief double eagles.

 

Then in 2007 NGC unveiled them again in a new size opening claiming that this holder had been specially designed for the purpose of holding and showing off the edge of the new President dollars. The reverse of the slab is the same as that of NGC 17.

 

 

 

NGC 21 Early in the twenty-first century, Japan decided to sell off enormous numbers of gold coins that the government had used for currency backing and which they had recalled from their own citizens before the first world war, plus gold captured during the second world war. These coins were sold by the Japanese government in a series of public auctions. Many of these were graded by NGC before the sales. They have a label from NGC on the obverse side and the edges have seals on them. As with the slabbed CC and Ike dollars in government holders the NGC guarantee does not extend to these slabs because they are not NGC slabs.

 

 

 

NGC 22 In 2007 NGC began encapsulating the 1971 –74 40% silver “blue Ikes”, and GSA 1 still in government holders. They also used the same holders for slabbing the President dollar first day covers. The holders they are using are the same ones that their paper money branch, PMG, uses for encapsulating currency.

 

 

 

 

NGC 23 The hologram on this multi-coin holder has now been changed with the addition of the PNG logo. The hologram style is very similar to that first used on NGC 17.

 

 

 

 

NGC 24 This is a variety I have not seen yet but which I believe does or soon will exist. Once again it is the slabbed GSA or brown Ike dollar but now the hologram on the back also contains the PNG endorsement.

 

 

 

NGC 25 As their first step in combating fake slabs from China, on about Feb 18th 2008 NGC introduced a new hologram with promises of a newly redesigned slab with more anti-counterfeiting features to be introduced later in the year. Unfortunately they had a misspelling in the hologram and discontinued it’s use after just two days to await a new printing of corrected holograms

 

 

 

 

NGC 25A This is the slab with the corrected hologram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is pretty much complete through Feb 2008 now. I will be adding a couple more pictures, possibly tomorrow. I do not have any picturs at the moment of the reverse of NGC 13 or 20, or any pictures of NGC 8.1 and NGC 25/25A. Can anyone confirm the existance of NGC 24?

[rrantique]

Definitely one to put in favorites Condor. (thumbs u

[RI AL]

Once again, gentlemen, I am endlessly impressed with your knowledge and willingness to share. What a fabulous post, Conder101. Thanks for going to all the trouble to create it and for sending me to the link!

 

So, do I safely assume that a "no line fatty" are the slabs pre-bar code or am I missing something. You can bet I will be checking out my collection in the next few days to see if I have any pre-bar code examples. I believe I do have a few...no treasures...but I find this fascinating. Do I assume that you are a "slab collector"? Do you collect all the tpg slabs...even from the mongrel companies? What an interesting (and BIG) collection that must be!

 

To all respondants to my question, thanks VERY much!!!

 

RI Al

[RI AL]

Maybe a dumb question, but aren't all NGC slabs "fatties" or have they been slimmed down recently? I assume we're talking THICKNESS here. I don't think I have ever seen a slim NGC.

 

My 5 world coin submissions are on their way back to be by mail so perhaps I will see a new, slimmed down version?? If anyone is curious, I will post pictures in the World Coins topic when the coins arrive. One thing I'm thrilled about is that darned Chile gold coin that I had to smuggle across the border into Peru is a Proof 68. It's a small miracle that it didn't get all hairlined and stuff having been shoved into a pocket and escaping a "pat down" by the drunk boarder crossing guards. (Man...I miss those travelling days!)

 

Have a great day, all. RI AL

[Dwaine]

Condor, do you have a website with all this info? Do you also have one for the PCGS slab varieties? I think I have seen it at some point but forgot to bookmark the page.

 

Thanks

[ant]

if you dont have a site with this info i will donate the lil space needed on my server for it i have 250 gigs of space and havnt gotn close yet. i am also a web hoster,.

[Conder101]

So, do I safely assume that a "no line fatty" are the slabs pre-bar code or am I missing something.

No, you are missing something. The NGC 5 has a barcode but it is also a "no line fattie".

 

When they talk abot the "line" they are referring to the keyed groove in the whit insert and the ridge in the outer plastic that fits into it. NGC added that groove and key to the slab in order to create a separation between the coin and the label. The label was not inert and coins in the "no line fatties" had a tendency to tone. This is very apparent on Roosevelt dimes in the old holders. They are very commonly found mainly white but with nice crescent rainbow toning. And the crescent is always at the top of the coin closest to the label. You will see this with other most white silver in these holders as well but the dimes seem to show the effects more. (Or I may just have noticed them more because I tend to concentrate on the lower denominations.)

 

Do I assume that you are a "slab collector"? Do you collect all the tpg slabs...even from the mongrel companies? What an interesting (and BIG) collection that must be!

Yes I am a slab collector and I do collect all of the TPG slabs, even the mongrels. An example of every holder variety from every company. I list over 150 companies and 331 production slab varieties. And then there are the Sample slabs, Novelty slabs, Presentation slabs, advertising slabs, Body bags (Yes, Body bags come in different varieties too. And they can be hard to come by because most collectors don't seem to want to admit their coin got a BB so they dispose of them rather than including them when they sell the coin.) and Miscellaneous which contains all kinds of things such as error slabs, oddities, memorabilia, and some other things. I have about 275 of the production varieties and I don't know how many of the other categories

 

Maybe a dumb question, but aren't all NGC slabs "fatties" or have they been slimmed down recently? I assume we're talking THICKNESS here. I don't think I have ever seen a slim NGC.

The description comes from another change that was made to the slab when they added the groove. If you look at the edge of a current slab you will see that it is ind of beveled or rounded over as you go from the face to the edge and then to the other face. On the No line slabs the edge and face meet in a squared off junction. Now I haven't measured to see if there actually is a difference in thickness but the square edge of the no line slabs does make them at least APPEAR to be thicker than the current slabs.

 

Condor, do you have a website with all this info? Do you also have one for the PCGS slab varieties? I think I have seen it at some point but forgot to bookmark the page.

No I do not. I have most of the images uploaded to create a thread like this on the PCGS and ANACS holders but haven't gotten around to creating the threads. I used to have threads ATS on both NGC and PCGS but several of the pictures were hosted on a site that closed down resulting in the loss of many of the images. And since I'm banned over there I am unable to update those threads.

 

[ant]

[DWLange]

Yes I am a slab collector and I do collect all of the TPG slabs, even the mongrels. An example of every holder variety from every company. I list over 150 companies and 331 production slab varieties.

 

That's almost as crazy as collecting coin boards and albums!

[MAULEMALL]

Yes I am a slab collector and I do collect all of the TPG slabs, even the mongrels. An example of every holder variety from every company. I list over 150 companies and 331 production slab varieties.

 

That's almost as crazy as collecting coin boards and albums!

[RI AL]

Conder101

 

I ran into a slab today that I don't recall buying...I'll post pictures but I wonder if you have this type for your slab collection? It has got to be one of the most "mongrolly of mongrels".

 

RI AL

 

 

[Conder101]

Interesting. That is the current generation of SEGS Signature Series (or Sovereign Series) slab, but for some reason it does not have a signature on the front label. The graders signature should appear in the lower right corner of the front label. Usually these are only used for older series or those that are collected by variety. The signature is usually someone well known that specializes in the series. Why you would have a silver eagle in one I have no idea.

 

This slab wouldn't happen to be available would it? If so PM me.

[Hu-Dey-migration]

I have photos of type 8.1 & type 13 in my signature set at the following link:

 

http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/ViewPersonalCollection.aspx?UserCollectionID=122&Tab=gallery

 

 

 

[physics-fan3.14]

So is there any premium to certain collectors for scarcer slab varieties besides the no line fatties? My question is in particular regarding NGC 8. I just inadvertently bought one on Ebay, and was wondering if it was more desirable because of this. Picture below.

 

[Conder101]

At the GCNE show in Cincinnati last month I ran into a total of six other slab collectors (yes the disease is spreading, but most of them confine themselves to just the NGC and PCGS slabs so far.) and a couple of them were still looking for the NGC 8 slab and they were willing to pay a premium to get one. A small premium,but still a premium. I advised not paying a premium, YET. Although scarce the NGC 8 can still be found with enough searching. (An one of th collectors needing it did manage to locate one at the show with no premium paid)

 

But I do think that if collecting the slabs gains much in the future it does have potential for being worth a premium. It has the key factors, it is instantly visually distinctive, it was disliked when it was produced, and it was produced for a very short time. So a relatively small number were made, people didn't like it so they cracked out, resubmitted, or reholdered, and it is noticeable. When people see it it attracts attention. They may not know instantly what is different about it but they do notice that it "doesn't look right".

[physics-fan3.14]

Thanks for the info! I think I'm going to incorporate some of what you said into my registry entry for this coin, if its ok that I quote you.

[Conder101]

Sure you can quote me. If it turns out someday that I'm completely wrong so be it, but the more the differences, scarcity, and potential collectibility of the slab varieties is publicized, the more likely people are to realize that they do have a place in numismatic history.

[physics-fan3.14]

A couple more questions for your inimitable knowledge. When did they stop using 6 digit serial numbers and go to 7 digit. I see 7 digit on NGC 13, but it appears like there are some NGC 17 with 6 digit.

 

Also, are there font variations withing NGC 17? I have a slab that has a noticeably different appearance, but has the full sticker on the back with PNG recommendation on it. It has 6 digits, which is why I was asking. I've got a normal sticker above and the one I'm asking about below, for immediate comparison.

[Conder101]

There does look like there is a slight font variation between the two that you picture. As to the serial numbers there is no cut off point for two reasons. One the serial number on th slab is the number on the invoice. If you are using old invoices you have low numbers. Some people still have stacks of invoices they picked up in the past. The second reason is if you send in a coin for reholdering with an older low number, it comes back in a new holder with the same old low number.

[jgrinz]

I have sen you post this once before ( before you were banned ATS ?? ) and was hoping you would take the TIME to do it here.

Thanks it is an awesome collection.

 

You really collect THIRD WORLD SLABS Too You are a brave man ..

[Mark T]

Condor, do you have a website with all this info? Do you also have one for the PCGS slab varieties? I think I have seen it at some point but forgot to bookmark the page.

 

Thanks

 

http://www.sampleslabs.com/

 

 

[physics-fan3.14]

Condor, do you have a website with all this info? Do you also have one for the PCGS slab varieties? I think I have seen it at some point but forgot to bookmark the page.

 

Thanks

 

http://www.sampleslabs.com/

 

 

That is Cameron Kiefer's website. His work is similar, but he focuses on sample slabs. The slabs listed in this thread are regular production slabs.

[franklinlvr-migration]

I think this might be NGC's latest slab. I got this back around the end of Nov. 2008. This coin was in an old fatty, that's why it has a six-digit cert. #.

 

[physics-fan3.14]

Hey Condor, what are the slab variety numbers for these new slabs? I'm assuming there is a different number for with prongs and without prongs?