09/01/2026
A Brief History of Coin Slabs
For today’s coin collector, a professionally graded coin sealed in a plastic holder is almost taken for granted. But the “slab” is a relatively recent development in numismatics with a history closely tied to the growth of third-party grading and the need to authenticate, grade, and protect coins.
The story begins with ANACS—the American Numismatic Association Certification Service—in 1972. ANACS was created to address the growing problem of counterfeit and altered coins. At first, however, ANACS did not put coins in plastic holders. Collectors received a photographic certificate showing both sides of the coin along with information about its authenticity. Grading was eventually added to the service in 1979. Over the following years, ANACS and other companies experimented with ways to combine certification with physical protection.
Then, with the founding of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) in 1986, it upped the game with a numbered, standardized grading system combined with a tamper-resistant plastic holder. The idea was revolutionary: an independent company would authenticate and grade a coin, then seal it in a holder, giving buyers confidence that the coin inside was the one that had been examined.
Those earliest PCGS holders are now famous among collectors as “rattlers.” They earned their nickname because the coin could move slightly inside the holder. Today, early PCGS holders are collectible in their own right, with collectors identifying different generations by holder design, label style, and other subtle characteristics. ANACS also eventually transitioned from its photographic certificates to encapsulated coins.
Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) followed in 1987, adding another major player to the growing third-party grading industry. Over the years, holders became stronger and more secure, while labels gained holograms, barcodes, and increasingly sophisticated anti-counterfeiting features.
But the story of the slab did not end with PCGS, NGC and ANACS. In 2007, Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC) was founded by 23 leading members of the numismatic community. CAC took a different approach. Rather than initially becoming another grading service, it examined coins that had already been certified by the other three companies. Coins that met CAC’s stringent standards for quality within their assigned grade received the now-famous green CAC sticker. CAC says that fewer than half of submitted coins receive the sticker.
Then, in 2022, CAC took the next major step and formed CAC Grading. The new company applied the same philosophy of accuracy and consistency to a complete third-party grading service. They assembled more than 150 members of the numismatic community and began accepting coins for its new holders in 2023.
CAC has already become part of the collecting story of slabs. Interestingly, even its holders are now being divided into generations. Old Slab Holders documents several CAC generations beginning with the first holders produced in 2023, with additional label and holder changes continuing through 2025 and 2026.
What started more than 50 years ago as a way to authenticate coins has evolved into an important part of modern numismatics. Today, collectors not only collect the coins inside slabs—they sometimes collect the slabs themselves, preserving a fascinating history of how the hobby has changed.
For more photos and more specific information on the different generations of slabs you can find it at www.oldslabholders.com.
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