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.

Congrats!

You were able to scan the QR code on the sample cover from the "Request For Contributions".

You have been redirected here, but the question is: "Got any (new) samples?"

Future 3rd Edition

As great as "the book" is, in 2024, it's a little long in the tooth. 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 will be splitting the third edition into two volumes:

• Volume 1 - NGC/NCS, PCGS, PCGS Banknote Grading and PCGS Currency
• Volume 2 - ANACS, ICG and others

By the time all of the new discoveries are included, each volume will be the size of the 1st edition of Sample Slabs book (445 pages) or even the 2nd edition (620 pages). Just from our personal collections, ANACS has grown from 79 types in the 1st edition, to 99 in the 2nd, and currently (updated: 2024-02-11) 266 types are in the database.

Slabbing Company	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation	181	61	222	466
PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service)	126	61	109	298
ANACS (American Numismatic Association Certification Service	79	20	167	267
ICG (Independent Coin Grading Company)	95	24	65	184
PCI (Photo-Certified Coin Institute)	17	5	9	31
SEGS (Sovereign Entities Grading Service)	17	2	1	20
The rest	59	19	40	119
4th Edition				6
Total	574	192	613	1,385

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

We will be better identifying the sources of samples using structured data to identify shows, clubs, and other issuers. We will be crediting the individual or site who reported the sample. And we will be making corrections to the 2nd edition text.

For issuers with multiple physical shells, (e.g. the ANACS SWH, curve-top, winged, and rounded bulk grading), 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 are being renumbered to eliminate substantial confusion - does C mean China or Canada? A second white paper (originally a chapter in the new book, now abbreviated to save 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" Cross-Reference
• OTHER INDEX - indexable things that don't fall in the above

Contributions

Found something new? Want to contribute to the next edition of the Sample Slab book? You can email them to us at Discoveries@SampleSlabs.info. You may also download a Microsoft Excel template here, or a Google Sheets version here and email them to us.

Ordering

Instructions on how to order the 3rd edition, release dates, etc. will be available shortly.

The Mechanics

While this was done in a quiet mode for a while, at the 2021 ANA Worlds Fair of Money, we went public with a book sitting on the table at the Sample Slabs Birds Of A Feather (BOAF) meeting. A second, much more refined sample was shown at the 2023 BOAF.

Technologies being utilized include:

• Microsoft Access 2019 (2021) and Word 2019 (2021) ( Office 2019)
• Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) (Getting started)
• Scribus 1.5.7 - open source desktop publishing tool (cover generation)
• Python 3 - the language of the macro that creates the cover in Scribus