I wish to propose the following and hope that people who come across this writeup can somehow convey the idea back to not only the China based mints but all other world mints. It is quite simple and has already been done to some extent in at least one instance. The coin boxes being made up till now (>99%) are only designed to hold the ungraded coin usually in the OMP. Granted that manufacture of these boxes is based on designs that originated before grading and coin enclosure in slabs became popular, they now need to be changed to serve the dual purpose of holding an ungraded coin in its OMP but also to still be useful after the coin is graded. The lack of this dual function serves to make these coin boxes largely redundant and can explain to some extent why coin boxes have been thrown away by their owners over the years. Even when they are kept they clutter the whole place and may be difficult to match back to their separately stored slabbed coin especially in large collections! Even the exquisitely designed boxes have not been spared this fate. And we are now acknowledging that many heirloom coin boxes have been lost this way. I acknowledge the fact that some collectors may move their coins into coin or slab albums for easy viewing, collation and display, but the display function can also be incorporated into the coin box re-design. I specifically propose that two cutouts be made in the box for holding the coin (circular cutout for circular coins and OMP as usual, should be made deeper) and a rectangular cutout for a future slabbed coin if/and when it graded. Given slightly differing slab dimensions from various grading companies (NGC, PCGS, ANACS, China based grading companies etc) a generic one-size-fit-all cutout will be necessary as is already done for some multi-slab holders and albums. The overall dimensions of the box may need to be changed in some cases. Coins can be sold initially with only the (usually) circular hole present. In this design variant the rectangular cutout is almost complete but held in place by 3mm tags at the four edges. These tags can be easily snipped and the rectangular pre-cut cutout pulled out when the slabbed coin returns from grading. I'll try and draw this later and post if I have time but I believe the idea is straight forward. This change in box design does not need to cost more. There could even be cost savings due to material saved by increasing the cutout space. If it is going to cost slightly more I am quite sure the additional cost (?50 cents US/box) will still be low compared to what we now pay to buy a new single unit slab holding/display box. As an example of what I am proposing look at the first batch of 2015 FUN Show reverse proof Panda medal boxes that were released at the beginning with already graded and slabbed medals. A mint packaging company only needs to place a circular cutout space in the middle of the rectangular slab holding area for the OMP coin/medal. To rehash, a slight change in the current coin box design will allow more coins to be left housed in their original boxes even after they return from grading and slabbing. I am not proposing that all coins be slabbed; that is a different discussion. Please if you are connected to the coin/medal minting and packaging industry discuss this with the decision makers and hopefully implement these changes in the current form or modified as seen fit. I think it makes sense. I don't hold any copyright to this idea. It may not even be original! But it does not matter. Just think about it and do it! Thank you! (Please note that I shall post this at other forums I belong to for wider coverage and discussion). Thanks again.
Nice idea but I highly doubt that any of the mints will do this because there probably will be extra cost to them with no return on that cost. As a private individual, you might be able to team up with some small company to devise some sort of add-on product that can be used to make certain mint boxes functional in the way you have described. Then you can market that product on a small scale and hope it is widely accepted by collectors who collect graded coins. .
