ANACS Slabs & Certificates
Updated: Jul 29, 2021
ANACS began in 1972 as a response to the growing number of counterfeit coins in the market. Located in Washington DC and staffed by two experts at the beginning. It was located near the Smithsonian to utilize its numismatic collection.
As demand for authentication grew ANACS began hiring more staff then in 1976 it moved to Colorado Springs, CO. In 1979 ANACS began offering the option to have your coin graded. Originally a dual grade was given, one for each side of the coin. Over the next decade several design changes were made to the certificate, the ANACS in 1989 added the option of having coins slabbed in a small white holder. The photo certificate was available for about another year before being discontinued in favor of the slab.
“For a more detailed early history see Robert Paul's great history on ANACS's early years”
In 1990 ANACS was sold to Amos Publishing. The small white holder labels were changed as shown in the album shown above. From 1990 to 1996 the same holder was used but the label was revised several times. Sometime in 1996 the holder was revised and made 2mm wider and taller. The new larger holder was used until 2006 for all regular submissions and continued until 2007 for problem graded coins. Early in 2006 the small white holder was replaced by a new slab featuring a blue label for problem free coins. Then in late 2007 the slab was again redesigned due to the fragile nature of the previous slab. The old white holder for problem coins was discontinued at this time as well. In December of the same year ANACS was sold to Driving Force LLC. Less than a year later the label was changed from blue to yellow and remains yellow to this day but was redesigned around August 2019.
*You can click on the above photo to view the various generations of ANACS certs and slabs from 1972 to today. To view the various generations of problem holders and labels just click on the bottom photo.
Collecting by generation can be fun but is a challenge as many generations are quite hard to come by and you can expect to pay a high premium for some.
Happy hunting.