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I would rip them out sorry and use Quadrums as you can open and close them whenever needed to take pictures etc

It really is hard to say because it depends on the light your looking at it in at the time. Both are getting close to a fair representation of the coin in hand.

Paul does make a valid point, he wants a service that can verify his coins as he's buying them, further confirming his assumption of grades and of problem free coins, and that CGS at the time were the cheapest. If there is any real reason to slab a coin aside from trying to increase it's value, this is it! It's no different to having a car check service - you pay for someone to confirm that the car is problem free and not hiding anything you can't see easily, the value doesn't increase on the car but you're paying for the verification and peace of mind.

At which point, in any of my posts, have I said I had got these slabbed for commercial reasons and by that I mean to turn a quick profit and resell? Everyone seems to be going off at a tangent here. The primary reasons I sent them to CGS were: 1) To check my grading, as a total newbie I wanted to see how CGS would grade them against the grades I had in my head, hence me posting my grades on the initial post. Whether you agree with CGS/PCGS/NGC/whoever it was to make sure I was picking out relatively problem free coins. Some of you have been collecting or dealing in coins for years and often seem to forget that for newbies like me spending £50, £100, £200 is a lot. CGS 'were' the cheapest option to get a TPG to look at them at the time. 2) Recommendations from active forum members who had expressed that they had were happy with the results form CGS. Yes I had read some of the negative comments as well but speaking with some of the members on here who use CGS I felt reassured that I wasn't making a massive mistake (This was pre takeover etc etc) These coins are going to sit in my collection for a long long time and yes, I am sure I will upgrade my 'mid level coins' at come point, however for now this exercise has served its purpose. It has helped validated that I am not buying dipped or messed with coins, it has demonstrated that my grading isn't a million miles off with George V Half Crowns and now they will sit in my collection for the foreseeable future

Welcome Stephen. A fair number of dealers will value a collection for insurance purposes, either with a fee or sometimes a charge for travel expenses. In such a case receipts wouldn't really be needed. Years ago I had mine valued by the local Numismatic Society. Of course, I've sold a few and bought others since. Hence I do keep receipts and provenance information. As my coins are all effectively unique (being hammered) I keep photographic records of all of them so if they ever did resurface on the market they would be easy enough to identify. You can also get stuff like SmartWater .. I don't see why it would mark coins and it's linked solely to you, so again if stolen coins turn up they could be identified as such. Mine are covered by my household insurance policy, though they do require anything over a certain value to be listed separately. How well a lump of cash would compensate for the work of 10+ years of collecting however I'm not sure. And hope never to need to find out. Insurance is good to have, but other precautions (such as not advertising you collect, keeping the collection out of sight of casual visitors etc) shouldn't be overlooked.

Actually, one has to pay a subscription of £99. Then subscribers can apply to be grading members. They are rather selective and states that " Clients who have a track record of submitting coins to the former CGS or are regular clients of London Coins auction or dealership service are likely to be approve" No riff raff then. And once they have approved your application, then you have the privilege of paying the £499 deposit upfront. Personally, I think this is just not exclusively enough. I think applicants should be proposed by a current member and seconded by another. They must be interviewed and swear their loyalty to LCGS. Seriously though, by getting rid of all their "small" customers, I think CGS coins will lose credibility. This is because a higher percentage of new slabbing is for their own LCA and so there will be more suspicion on their impartiality.