Only used for the first few days of PCGS operations. Very rare.
In use for a week or so in mid-February 1986. All white labels are in the 1080000 series. Rare.
By the end of February, PCGS has settled on a pale green insert color. Common, though growing scarcer with the passage of time.
*Various hues today due to fading.
A plastic collar surrounds the slab forming a raised lip that allowed them to stack & interlock. The PCGS logo appeared at lower right on collar and a hologram was added to the reverse. Very Scarce.
The doily pattern is replaced with solid light green label. Transitional and used very briefly. Scarce.
The last of the plastic-collar slabs featured a solid green insert, though no longer perforated. Scarce.
Design features a two-piece shell with stacking edge. The alignment pins were gone and the PCGS logo (pressed into the plastic) appeared at the lower right.
*The label dye color was not stable and is found in various hues from blue to yellow. Occasional.
The insert dye color stability was corrected. Occasional.
A minor update with the barcode returned to the front. Occasional.
A transitional slab made for a few months in late 2004 and early 2005. Scarce.
Another transitional slab, made throughout most of 2005. Occasional.
A long-lived design, made for about six years. Silver color-shifting hologram beginning March 2011. Very common.
The inauguration of the Gold Shield service in the Spring of 2010 also introduced "Plus" grades.
Silver color-shifting hologram beginning March 2011.
A new mounting for the coin using prongs instead of a gasket enabled viewing of the edge of the coin. Common.
The Gold Shield label switched to the gradient design about three months prior to non-Gold Shield label.
Limited in popularity due to awkward size, this holder is infrequently seen today. It is estimated approximately 700 coins were put into Regency Holders, roughly half of them Israeli coins from the Danny Kaye collection. Scarce.
PCGS kept no official log of changes in the earlier years. We have constructed this study using available records and resources, but we realize it may still contain some errors or omissions. We encourage input from the dedicated collectors in the numismatic community on this project. Please send comments and suggestions to: [email protected].
Prepared by Michael W. Sherman
PCGS Director of Collector Education
Special thanks to the following people for their research and input:
Anibal Almeida, Marijke Groat, Tim Larson (Lakesammman), Steve Mayer, Mike Reitz, David Rosenberg, Paul Sanders, Michael Schmidt (Conder101), and BJ Searls.