Sample Slab Book - 3rd Edition (2025)
New samples are discovered almost every day. New companies are issuing samples. It's time for an update.
Given our assumptions of the number of new samples to be added, we split the third edition into two volumes:
- Volume 1 - NGC/NCS, PCGS - 989 types
- Volume 2 - ANACS, ICG and others including currency - approx. 800 types
By the time all of the new discoveries are included, each volume will be larger than the size of the 2nd edition of Sample Slabs book (620 pages). Just from our personal collections, ANACS has grown from 79 types in the 1st edition, to 99 in the 2nd, and currently types are in the database.
| Slabbing Company | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Volume 1 | ||||
| NCS/NGC | 181 | 60 | 324 | 565 |
| PCGS | 127 | 62 | 160 | 349 |
| Volume 2 | ||||
| ANACS | 79 | 20 | 204 | 303 |
| ICG | 95 | 24 | 74 | 193 |
| PCI | 17 | 5 | 9 | 31 |
| SEGS | 17 | 2 | 1 | 20 |
| CACG | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
| The rest | 62 | 18 | 1 | 81 |
| Total | 578 | 191 | 819 | 1,562 |
One of the recent developments in the slab world has been the growth of Production Slabs with various business names added to the label. Astute readers will notice we are clarifying the "Promotional" category to explicitly exclude these. To clarify what is in and out of the book, we have a short white paper available here.
New in the 3rd edition
For samples that aren't in our personal collections, or we haven't seen in hand at shows and such, we are crediting the individual or site who reported the sample. We've made many corrections to the 2nd edition text, based on a substantial amount of new research.
For issuers with multiple physical shells, (e.g. the ANACS SWH, curve-top, winged, and rounded bulk grading), in many cases the shell type will be identified.
Entries added or (substantially) revised will be identified by symbols: ②, ③, etc. Entries revised since they were first written are indicated by Ⓡ
International samples have been renumbered to eliminate substantial confusion - does C mean China or Canada? A second white paper (originally a chapter in the new book, now separate to save print pages) is available here.
There will also be nine indexes to make it easier to use the printed (or .pdf) book:
- COMPANIES/TYPES INDEX (includes sponsors)
- SCHWAGER NUMBER INDEX
- OBJECT INDEX
- SERIAL (Certificate) INDEX
- SHOWS, OTHER EVENTS, and CLUBS INDEX
- 1st/2nd Edition --> 3rd Edition Cross reference
- SampleSlabs.com (Cameron Kiefer) Cross reference
- "The Slab Book" (Conder101) Cross-Reference
- OTHER INDEX - indexable things that don't fall in the above
The Mechanics
In the race to remain relevant, the contents of the second edition have been placed into a database. Technology has been developed to generate the raw Microsoft Word files from that database with the click of a few buttons (and a little patience - it's not the fastest generator in the world). It then takes a couple days to perfect the pagination before it can be shipped to a POD site for ordering. We hope this will drastically cut down the turn-around time between editions!
While this was done in a quiet mode for a while, at the 2021 ANA Worlds Fair of Money, we went public with a proto-book sitting on the table at the Sample Slabs Birds Of A Feather (BOAF) meeting. A second, more refined sample, was shown at the 2023 BOAF. And we will be in print at the 2025 BOAF.
Technologies being utilized include:
- Microsoft Office 2021 - Access, Excel, and Word
- Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) ( Getting started)
- Scribus 1.6.3 - open source desktop publishing tool (cover generation)
Ordering
Instructions on how to order the 3rd edition, release dates, etc. will be available shortly.
Contributions
Found something new? Want to contribute to the next edition of the Sample Slab book? You can email them to us at
You may download a Microsoft Excel template here, or a Google Sheets version here and email them to us.
Sample Slab Book - 2nd Edition (2016)
First published in 2015, with a 2nd edition in 2016, the "Sample Slabs book was the first of it's kind.
Out-of-print from 2018-2019, limited copies of the second printing were available from David Schwager at the Sample Slab Book site but are now sold out. Of course, the .pdf edition is always available.
Coverage includes Sample, Promotional, Club, Show, Luncheon, Novelty, and Young Numismatist Coin and Currency Holders. The second edition had 180 more listings and 300 more photos than the first edition, bringing the counts to 35 services, 760+ types and over 900 photos.